Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 108: Bereavement [Part 1]

   In just one night, the once elegantly carved and jade-adorned warm chamber had been reduced to ruins. Wisps of black smoke rose from the broken tiles and crumbled walls, only to be quickly doused by splashing water.

Changchun Palace, which had been brightly lit and festooned with lanterns yesterday, was today filled with wails of grief.

“Get away!” The Empress clutched the swaddled bundle to her chest with desperate strength, wildly hurling pillows and bedding at the imperial physicians, palace maids, and others. “Don’t come near! The Seventh Prince is fine—he’s fine!”

Lord Hongli had just started to approach when Court Physician Zhang blocked him: “Your Majesty, the Empress is overwhelmed with grief and has lost her senses. You must not go near her!”

Pushing Physician Zhang aside, Lord Hongli strode quickly to the Empress and said: “Empress, Yongcong is already gone. Let him go first—let the physicians tend to your injuries, all right?”

Like a startled mother beast, the Empress clung tightly to the bundle and shrank into the corner, staring at him warily. After a full night, her burns looked even more ghastly and hideous; fresh blood continued to seep from the wounds.

This could not go on. Gritting his teeth, Lord Hongli suddenly stepped forward, wrapped his arms forcefully around the Empress, and barked: “Take the prince away!”

“No!” The swaddled bundle was torn from her arms by several palace servants. With her hands and feet restrained by Lord Hongli, the Empress could not move. She could only scream with heart-rending anguish: “Give Yongcong back to me—give him back!”

At Lord Hongli’s signal, the palace servants carried the bundle out of Changchun Palace. Watching them leave, despair filled the Empress’s eyes. Suddenly she turned and roared at Lord Hongli: “It was you—it was you who took Yongcong away! Why did you take my son from me?”

Lord Hongli’s heart was filled with unbearable sorrow, yet he still tried to comfort her: “Because he is dead, Empress. Yongcong is already dead! Pull yourself together—don’t lose control like this, and don’t forget who you are!”

The Empress stared at him and said, word by word: “Who am I? Your Majesty, tell me—who am I?”

Lord Hongli answered solemnly: “You are my wife. You are the Empress of Great Qing, mother and model to all under Heaven!”

“Yes, I am the Empress of the Great Qing! From the day I was conferred the title, I have served the Empress Dowager with respect, honored the Emperor, treated the consorts kindly, and managed affairs with the utmost care. I feared making even the slightest misstep that might invite the criticism of the world, feared not being virtuous enough and losing the Emperor’s favor! I have never been jealous, never resented, never hated. I helped the Emperor protect his consorts—even treated their children as my own. But what have I received in return? On New Year’s Eve, when the whole family should be reunited, Heaven chose this very day to take Yongcong from me! He was the most precious person in the world, the one I traded my own life to bring into being!” The Empress let out a hollow laugh. Her scarred hand gripped the Emperor’s arm with desperate force as she asked in anguished accusation, “Your Majesty, tell me—Fucha Rongyin has never done a single wicked thing in her life. Why has she come to such an end? Why is Heaven so cruel to me? Why? Why?!”

Hongli clasped her icy fingers in return. A faint glimmer of tears shone in the depths of his eyes as his voice came out hoarse and broken. “Empress, you are tired”

“No, I am not tired.” Suddenly she shoved his hand away. “I want to go find Yongcong. I want to go to him.”

Hongli reached out again to stop her, but the Empress’s gaze turned fierce. She seized his arm and bit down hard—her teeth sinking deep into his flesh. Fresh blood immediately flooded her mouth.

She had always been gentle and virtuous; no one had ever seen her so unhinged. Everyone froze in shock. Only Hongli briefly furrowed his brow before roaring, “The Empress is tired and needs rest! What are you all standing there for? Come and attend to Her Majesty at once!”

Only then did the others snap out of their daze. They rushed forward in a chaotic scramble to help, but under the Empress’s frenzied struggles, every one of them ended up injured—some with faces scratched bloody, others bitten—yet because she was the Empress, none dared to handle her too roughly. In the end, paralyzed by caution, not a single person could get close enough to restrain her.

“I don’t want to be Empress anymore.” She staggered to her feet, her body covered in blood—her own and that of others. Murmuring, she said, “I will just be Fucha Rongyin. I will just be Yongcong’s mother. I want nothing else—nothing at all! Give Yongcong back to me. Give him back!”

Hongli clutched his wounded arm and closed his eyes in pain. Through gritted teeth he ordered, “Bring ropes!”

Ming Yu stared at him in shock. “Your Majesty?”

“I said bring ropes!” Hongli barked.

“Yes—yes!” The eunuchs scrambled away on hands and knees and quickly returned with a length of rope. Hongli took several deep breaths. Amid the stunned cries of those around him, he lunged forward and began binding the Empress with the rope.

Loop after loop wound around her body. She struggled wildly, screaming, “Hongli, let me go! Let me go!”

Hongli had no wish to truss her up like livestock, but he had even less desire to watch her harm herself and others. Holding back the tears in his eyes, he said in a hoarse voice, “Fucha Rongyin, you are my Empress, the wife I married before Heaven and Earth—you have no right to act willfully, and no right to abandon your duty midway! I don’t care whether you are ill or mad—you must remember the responsibility that rests on your shoulders!”

The Empress had always excelled at endurance. In the past, whenever responsibility was invoked, she could bear anything. But she was human. Even the most patient person has a breaking point…

“Yongcong!” Suddenly she collapsed into heartbroken sobs. The most desolate wail in the world tore from her throat, from deep within her chest. “Yongcong!”

The cries echoed through Changchun Palace, unanswered for a long, long time.

The child who used to cover his little ears with his hands when firecrackers sounded, the child who would babble happily in response whenever his mother called him—he would never come back.

When he emerged from the bedchamber, Hongli raised a hand to wipe away his tears. “Ming Yu.”

“This servant is here.” Ming Yu’s eyes were also red-rimmed.

“From this moment on, you are to stay by the Empress’s side at all times. Do you understand?” Hongli instructed.

“Yes.” Ming Yu replied.

Hongli nodded, glanced back toward the bedchamber once more, then let out a heavy sigh and turned to leave. After only a few steps, his foot faltered and he nearly stumbled. Li Yu hurried to support him, but Hongli waved him off. Slowly straightening his spine, he said in a low, heavy voice, “Issue the decree. I will personally preside over the Seventh Prince’s funeral rites.”

Li Yu stared at him in astonishment. “Your Majesty, this is against all protocol!”

Hongli’s face was still streaked with tears. Coldly he replied, “What I say becomes protocol.”

Li Yu hesitated. “Then… shall this servant send someone to inform the Empress Dowager…?”

Hongli waved his hand. “The Empress Dowager loved Yongcong dearly. This news can only come from me.”

Li Yu: “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Let’s go.” Hongli sighed again. In that instant, he seemed to have aged many years. “I want to take one more look at the Seventh Prince.”

But at that moment, a eunuch rushed in to report urgently: “Your Majesty, an express dispatch from eight hundred li away! Governor-General of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Zhang Guangsi, reports an emergency military situation: The chieftain of Greater Jinchuan, Shaluo Ben, has attacked the Mingzheng chieftain and other territories, intending to swallow up all the surrounding tribes!”

Upon hearing this, Hongli remained silent for a long time.

Li Yu scolded in a low voice: “Do you have eyes or not? The Seventh Prince has just passed away—how could His Majesty possibly be in the mood for this? Get out of here!”

Hongli coldly interrupted him: “Instruct Prince He to arrange Yongcong’s funeral affairs. Summon the Grand Council ministers to Yangxin Hall for an audience at once!”

Li Yu froze for a moment, then suddenly understood. “Yes, Your Majesty!”

Hongli cast one final glance toward Changchun Palace. A flash of apology passed through his eyes, but without the slightest hesitation, he turned and left.

There was only a single door separating inside from outside—yet the commotion beyond could not be hidden from those within.

The Empress lay motionless on the bed, ropes binding her body. Her eyes stared fixedly at the ceiling. She had not moved for a long time. If not for the faint rise and fall of her breathing, she might have seemed already dead.

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