Chapter 70
Chapter 70
The gates of Qiansheng Pavilion closed once more.
Only this time, Gao Li had not closed them from within. Lady Pei had closed them from outside.
Pei Xianjing treasured Xing Shuwei like the flesh of his own heart. Then she would make sure he hurt properly. She would let him experience the kind of life she had endured every day for the past twenty-odd years.
The Empress Dowager plainly favored Princess Jin’an. The Princess must have complained to her after failing to get her way last time.
That was why the Empress Dowager had issued an edict summoning Xing Shuwei and her brother into the palace for punishment.
No-perhaps to their deaths.
The thought filled Lady Pei with indescribable satisfaction.
* * *
Xing Shuwei followed the eunuch out through the Duke’s estate’s vermilion gates. The three of them boarded the same large carriage.
The carriage was even more luxurious than Pei Congxian’s.
I wagered correctly, Xing Shuwei thought.
Of the two fans she had asked Qiutong to take to Zhang Mingan, one had been prepared especially for the Empress Dowager.
Her mother’s handwriting so closely resembled the Empress Dowager’s that Xing Shuwei had guessed the Empress Dowager must have taught her mother by hand from childhood.
She had once heard Pei Guofei say that, in earlier years, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor had been at odds. On the grounds that her maternal relatives were interfering in politics, the Emperor had purged her natal clan.
After seeing the writing Xing Shuwei had done with her left hand, Zhang Mingan had deliberately taken the opportunity to give her a fan bearing the Empress Dowager’s calligraphy. Most likely, he had suspected she was descended from the Empress Dowager’s natal clan and wanted to use her to do the Empress Dowager a favor.
The poem Xing Shuwei had written for the Empress Dowager alluded to familial bonds in troubled times. Her wager had paid off.
If she had not intended to save their lives, today’s edict of the Empress Dowager would never have come.
Xing Shuwei could hardly contain her delight. After today, Xing Shuwei and Xing Shuyan would no longer exist in this world. Beneath the boundless sky, they would never again have to live at another’s mercy.
Everything belonging to the Pei family would have nothing more to do with her.
She would forget Pei Xianjing and live the rest of her life well.
She also wished Pei Xianjing success in his career, a happy marriage, peace, and joy.
Their debts and grievances would cancel each other out. They would live far apart and never disturb each other again.
Good. This was how things should always have been between them.
Yet for some reason, the thought suddenly made her heart feel unbearably heavy.
“Lower the curtain,” she told Qiutong. “There’s nothing worth seeing.”
“Miss, our lives will surely be more comfortable than they were at the Duke’s estate, won’t they?” Qiutong asked with a beaming smile after doing as she was told.
Xing Shuwei kept both hands before her, now and then pressing one against her chest as though she could drive away that inexplicable weight.
“They certainly will,” she said.
Then she looked at Xing Shuyan. “It is only Yan’er who has suffered. The official post already within your grasp is gone.”
Xing Shuyan shook his head. “I never wanted to serve beside the Eleventh Prince in the first place.
“The young masters at Zhenxi Hall all say that anyone who goes to the Eleventh Prince’s side is involving himself in the succession struggle.
“I wanted to earn military merit before because I wanted to become someone Elder Sister could rely on.
“If I waded into such murky waters, I would only drag Elder Sister into endless danger with me. That would defeat the whole purpose.”
“Elder Sister, once we reach Qizhou, I will go into business.
“There is nothing wrong with a son carrying on his father’s aspirations.”
Xing Shuyan’s words eased some of Xing Shuwei’s guilt.
The carriage passed through bustling streets and entered the solemn, towering palace walls.
It did not stop until it reached the Empress Dowager’s palace.
Standing beside the carriage, the eunuch said, “Miss Xing, Young Master Xing, we have arrived.”
The three of them alighted. Xing Shuwei respectfully curtsied to the eunuch. “Thank you for leading the way, Eunuch.”
“The Empress Dowager is already waiting inside. Follow this eunuch in.” The eunuch’s voice had grown much gentler.
Qiutong was left in the courtyard while the eunuch invited Xing Shuwei and her brother inside.
The instant she crossed the threshold, Xing Shuwei pulled her brother down to his knees. “This commoner, Xing Shuwei, eldest daughter of the Xing family, pays her respects to the Empress Dowager.”
Xing Shuyan hurriedly followed suit.
At those words, the stately, richly dressed woman behind the screen rounded it in two quick steps.
“Rise,” the Empress Dowager said kindly, standing before them.
Xing Shuwei raised her head first, and a face that seemed exquisitely carved by the Creator filled the Empress Dowager’s vision.
Gracefully arched willow-leaf brows framed a pair of large, limpid eyes, as clear and lustrous as grapes.
Beneath her high nose bridge and delicate nose were lips naturally crimson even without rouge.
The face was so beautiful-and so familiar.
“You are Qiao’er’s daughter, are you not?” the Empress Dowager asked as she gazed at her.
Xing Shuwei nodded. “This commoner’s mother was named Xu Qiao.”
“Yes.” The Empress Dowager reached out and laid her warm palm against Xing Shuwei’s cheek.
“Your mother was my younger paternal half-sister, born to a concubine. She was seven years younger than I and followed me everywhere.
“After I entered the palace, she made a scene before Father, insisting that she wanted to enter the palace as an imperial consort too.
“Behind these towering walls is a place that devours people. With her nature-incapable of hiding a single thought-how could she possibly have survived here?
“So I sent her and Concubine Xu back to our ancestral home in Qizhou…”
The Empress Dowager’s lips trembled. Her eyes brimmed with tears, yet unmistakable joy shone within them.
She paused and let out two nearly imperceptible breaths. “I have done many wrong things in my life. Only this decision was right.
“You carry the blood of my Xu clan. How wonderful that the Xu clan still has a fine daughter and son like you.”
“That scoundrel from the Zhang clan told me everything. It is fortunate he is clever.
“Otherwise, I would have made yet another terrible mistake.”
The mist of tears gradually faded from the Empress Dowager’s eyes. She patted the back of Xing Shuwei’s hand. “Good child, Zhang Mingan is waiting outside the city for you.
“These are the household-registration documents I prepared for you. Live well once you reach Qizhou.”
“If the day comes when I bring peace to this capital, I will send for you to return.”
“Go.” The Empress Dowager pressed the household documents into Xing Shuwei’s hand.
Clutching them tightly, Xing Shuwei dropped to her knees with a thud and kowtowed. “Shuwei and Shuyan will forever remember the great grace you have shown us, Aunt.
“Even from a thousand miles away, if you ever have need of us, we will spare no effort and answer without hesitation.”
The Empress Dowager shook her head. “All I ask is that you live well. This is my battlefield. You need not become entangled in it.”
“Go.”
The eunuch stepped in through the doorway and beckoned two palace maids to help Xing Shuwei to her feet.
Xing Shuwei’s eyes blurred with tears, her emotions surging.
After four years, she and Shuyan had family once more.
Yet they had only just met and already had to part in haste.
The Empress Dowager and her mother must have shared a profound sisterly bond. Otherwise, the Empress Dowager would never have looked at them with such affection.
At first, Xing Shuwei had believed her mother was merely a daughter of the Empress Dowager’s clan and that the Empress Dowager had taught her to write.
Only now did she understand that her mother and the Empress Dowager had studied under the same tutor from childhood.
Xing Shuwei looked back again and again as she walked, watching the Empress Dowager’s figure disappear behind the heavy palace doors.
It was just like Xing Shuwei being trapped in Qianchen Pavilion.
Xing Shuwei still had a chance to flee, and people willing to help her. The Empress Dowager had neither.
“Miss Xing, we must hurry. The palace is not a safe place either,” the eunuch urged.
Xing Shuwei nodded. “Thank you for the warning, Eunuch.”