Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I had no real luggage to take with me.

The Empress Dowager’s private savings had always been in my keeping.

Rewards accumulated over the years, pearls and curios offered as tribute by ministers and imperial clansmen, and the occasional filial gift from Zhao Xun.

Back then, she had said that when I married, all of it would be left to me as my dowry.

Later, she left this world before me.

I placed every last item inside her coffin.

When I first entered the palace, I had been so poor I could hear the coins not jingling in my pockets. I owned nothing. Now, twenty years later, as I left the palace, my sleeves were just as empty.

The Empress Dowager had always cared for the servants. The palace maids of Cining Palace were not short of money either, and several young maids pooled together some silver, their eyes brimming with tears as they tried to give it to me.

I refused it. Life in the palace was too hard. They needed the money more than I did.

The slanting sun fell across the vermilion walls.

Ceremonial music rose, and the Empress Dowager’s remains began their journey to the imperial mausoleum.

Before I left the Forbidden City, someone secretly called me to a stop.

It was the two princes.

The First Prince wore a stern expression. “Since you’re leaving, behave yourself and guard Imperial Grandmother’s tomb properly.”

“If you dare covet anything that doesn’t belong to you again, I won’t let you off lightly.”

As he spoke, he shot the Second Prince a look, as if urging him on.

The Second Prince’s little face scrunched up. Slowly, he said,

“We only have one mother, the Noble Consort. Even if you are our birth mother, we won’t acknowledge you.”

I looked at the two brothers and could not help smiling.

In my previous life, they had been the same, making things difficult for me at every turn.

Only, the elder brother was domineering, while the younger was timid.

The Second Prince was used to obeying his elder brother in everything.

Many things were usually the First Prince’s idea first, and then he would half threaten, half coax his younger brother into doing them with him.

Between the two brothers, the Noble Consort favored the eldest more as well.

I shook my head and feigned surprise. “What are Your Little Highnesses saying?”

“Your Highnesses are His Majesty and the Noble Consort’s children, phoenix sons and dragon grandsons. Naturally, you have only the Noble Consort as your mother.”

The First Prince froze, his expression turning complicated.

The Second Prince’s eyes reddened at once. “W-what do you mean by that?”

I felt my pocket. There was still a handful of osmanthus candies I had not had time to eat.

I took them out and placed them in his hand, then smiled and stroked his cheek.

“It will be dark soon. Your Highness should hurry back, or the Noble Consort will worry.”

The intimate gesture fell into the First Prince’s eyes.

He puffed up in anger and turned his face away.

I gave them a bow and prepared to leave.

But the moment I turned around, the smile on my face stiffened.

The sun was sinking in the west, and a figure stood silently beneath the afterglow.

Zhao Xun lowered his eyes and looked at me, a faint trace of mockery in them. “If you can’t bear to part with them, why leave?”

What?

I blinked.

I was somewhat bewildered.

He said calmly, “Was that little performance just now meant to use your two biological children to make me personally ask you to return?”

“Playing hard to get. You do it well.”

It took me quite a while to understand what he meant. I shook my head again and again. “This servant is sincerely going to guard the Empress Dowager’s tomb.”

“In going to the imperial mausoleum, this servant has already prepared to spend the rest of her life by the Empress Dowager’s side.”

Zhao Xun gave a soft scoff. “You know perfectly well that I won’t let you waste away there for the rest of your life.”

My eyes snapped up to him.

But he had already turned his gaze away, his face expressionless.