Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 110: Bestowed Death

   Dong, dong, dong—

Wei Yingluo’s footsteps paused. She looked toward the direction of the bell tolls, her heart pounding uncontrollably for some reason.

In her hand she carried a box containing gifts she had brought from home: a few simple folk snacks and some children’s toys bought from the street—nothing particularly rare, just a small token of affection.

The items had been prepared by Wei Qingtai. He always believed that a servant should not only perform duties well but also occasionally send gifts to those above, to keep the relationship warm.

Wei Yingluo remained cool and distant toward him. She could not forget the events of her childhood, could not forget the suffering she and her sister endured because of him, and especially could not forget how lightly he had forgiven the true culprit.

Only for the Empress’s sake had she gone home once. She had planned to return to the palace overnight, but unexpectedly Wei Qingtai lowered his pride and called out to her departing figure, “Wei Yingluo, you can hate me, never forgive me for the rest of your life—but tonight is New Year’s Eve. Stay, have this reunion dinner with me, won’t you?”

Wei Yingluo slowly turned her head and looked at him with complicated emotions.

His hair had turned white, the wrinkles on his face had deepened. Though he had been promoted, there was no trace of joy on him—only the loneliness peculiar to the elderly and a longing for family reunion.

In the end, Wei Yingluo sighed and returned to the table. “What are we eating tonight?”

After the meal, the time to return to the palace had already passed, so Wei Yingluo had no choice but to stay overnight at home. The next morning, reluctantly accepting the gift box that Wei Qingtai insisted on giving her, she waited outside the palace gate.

And it was there that she heard this ominous bell.

“This is a funeral bell,” the guard in charge of opening the gate said in surprise. “What happened in the palace? Which noble lady has passed away?”

A guard rushed out from inside the palace, his face full of panic. “The Empress has passed away! The Empress has passed away!”

Wei Yingluo froze. The New Year’s gift slipped from her hand and fell to the ground. Suddenly she pushed the two men aside and ran frantically toward the Changchun Palace.

From afar, she heard waves of crying. Upon entering the hall, she was met with a sea of white mourning banners hanging everywhere throughout the palace. All the servants in the palace had changed into white clothing, and even the silk flowers pinned in their hair had been replaced with plain white ones.

Wei Yingluo searched through the crowd and found Ming Yu. She grabbed the other’s shoulders and demanded, “What happened?”

Ming Yu was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long while. Wei Yingluo couldn’t wait any longer. She simply let go and rushed frantically toward the direction of the bedchamber.

Behind her, Ming Yu finally regained her voice and cried hoarsely, “Don’t look—Her Ladyship, right now she—”

The door to the chamber creaked open. Wei Yingluo stood frozen, staring at the Empress on the bed.

A brocade quilt covered her from head to toe.

Drip, drip—fresh blood trickled down from one corner of the quilt, pooling into a circle of red on the floor. Wei Yingluo gazed at that bloodstain, her hands and feet turning ice-cold. She didn’t dare step forward, didn’t have the courage to lift that corner of the quilt…

“Changchun Palace was suddenly engulfed in flames, and the Seventh Prince perished in the fire. Her Ladyship was overwhelmed with grief and threw herself from the corner tower…” Erqing sobbed in pain behind her. “Yingluo, why were you one day late? Why didn’t you return before dusk? Why! Why did you come back so late?!”

“Why didn’t I come back earlier…” Wei Yingluo murmured to herself, over and over. “Why didn’t I come back earlier…”

She stood numbly by the bedside, forgetting to eat, forgetting to sleep, forgetting the passage of time, forgetting herself and everything around her—as if she had become a paper effigy meant for burial with the deceased, standing vigil over her master in the coffin, day after day, month after month, until the paper yellowed and her body decayed.

Until Hongli’s voice sounded beside her, in an extremely calm tone: “Immediately prepare to change the Empress’s clothes and do her hair. I want the Empress to depart with dignity and grace.”

Two maids passed by her side in a stream—one carrying a cosmetics case, the other holding splendid robes—ready to dress and adorn the deceased Empress once more. But unexpectedly, Wei Yingluo suddenly swung her hand and knocked over the cosmetics case beside her.

The box fell to the ground, and the pearl hairpins, jade rings, and ornaments inside scattered with a clatter.

Everyone gasped in shock, yet Wei Yingluo spoke with extreme calm: “Your Majesty, this servant will clean the bloodstains from Her Ladyship, but she has already chosen to cast aside all jewelry and adornments. These burdensome things—let them be spared!”

Hongli said coldly, “She is the Empress. She cannot depart in plain mourning clothes!”

Ming Yu hurriedly tugged at Wei Yingluo. Wei Yingluo shook off her arm and stared at Hongli. “Your Majesty, if Her Ladyship cared about worldly reputation, she would not have leaped from such a height. I beg Your Majesty to show mercy and allow Her Ladyship to leave unburdened and free!”

Hongli: “Ming Yu, go and prepare the Empress.”

Wei Yingluo: “Your Majesty!”

Hongli stared at the Empress beneath the brocade quilt, speaking as if to Wei Yingluo, yet more as if to the Empress herself: “She will forever be my Empress. She will not leave with a heart free of attachments, nor can she depart in freedom. This is her fate!”

Afraid that Wei Yingluo would anger Hongli again, Ming Yu quickly knelt down, gathered every scattered pearl hairpin and jade ring back into the case, then carried the cosmetics box back to the Empress’s side. Just as she was about to lift the quilt to begin the preparations, Wei Yingluo pressed down on her hand.

“Is Your Majesty speaking so lightly because you blame Her Ladyship for taking her own life and committing a grave sin?” Wei Yingluo fixed her gaze on Hongli.

Hongli gradually grew angry, though it was unclear whether his rage was directed at the Empress or at himself: “As Empress, to be so weak, so useless—I will never forgive her!”

“Your Majesty!” Wei Yingluo was furious too. “Her Ladyship endured icy chills in her body and excruciating pain in her bones, yet she still risked death to give birth to the Seventh Prince! Everyone says she did it to secure her position as Empress—no! Her Ladyship knew deeply that Your Majesty desired a legitimate heir to inherit the throne! Because Your Majesty needed it, she sacrificed herself, even at the cost of her life! And the result? On New Year’s Eve, the agony of losing her son pierced her heart like a blade—unbearable, unbearable! Your Majesty, sitting every day in the Yangxin Hall, did you ever hear Her ladyship desperate cries for help? She was waiting for you to save her!”

Ming Yu hurriedly pulled at her arm: “Yingluo, stop talking!”

Unfortunately, because of the Empress’s death, Wei Yingluo had gradually lost her reason. The words she could only bury deep in her heart were now all spoken aloud:

“Your Majesty, the Empress truly loved you. She treated everyone in the six palaces with genuine sincerity. Yet her true heart was met with your neglect and the schemes and calculations of the other consorts! Everyone laughed at the Empress for being foolish. No! She wasn’t foolish at all. She was born intelligent, but she simply could not bear it. She could not bear to harm the other women trapped in this deep palace, and even more, she could not bear to hurt Your Majesty’s heart! But Your Majesty, why couldn’t you give her just a little pity, a little love? Why were you so cold and ruthless? Is your heart made of ice?!”

Hongli’s face turned livid with anger. He suddenly closed his eyes and said, “Li Yu!”

Li Yu: “This servant is here!”

Hongli: “Wei Yingluo has repeatedly violated taboos and committed great disobedience. Grant her permission to commit suicide so she may accompany the Empress in death.”

Ming Yu’s legs gave way beneath her. She dropped to her knees with a thud and kowtowed nonstop: “No, Your Majesty, please no! Yingluo, beg His Majesty for mercy—quickly, please!”

Wei Yingluo did not kneel.

To avenge her sister, to survive in this man-eating Forbidden City, she had knelt before so many people, so many times. Now, at last, she no longer had to kneel.

She let out a breath of relief and smiled as if her wish had finally been granted: “This servant is willing to follow the Empress forever. Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace.”

With a wave of Li Yu’s hand, eunuchs stepped forward and took Wei Yingluo away.

“Yingluo! Yingluo!” Ming Yu crawled back to Hongli’s feet while sobbing and kowtowed hard. “Your Majesty, the Empress loved Yingluo the most—you cannot do this!”

Hongli didn’t even glance at her. He stood rigidly by the bed, gazing at the Empress lying there, his voice calm as dead water: “Precisely because she was the servant the Empress loved most, I am sending her to accompany the Empress.”

Ming Yu froze.

Two palace maids passed by her, each holding a cosmetics case and luxurious clothing. Ming Yu trembled on her knees for a moment, then suddenly rushed forward and knocked the box to the ground.

Everyone looked at her in shock. After Wei Yingluo’s suicidal behavior, someone else actually dared to follow in her footsteps.

The sound of the cosmetics case hitting the floor rang out. Hongli slowly turned his face and looked at her coldly.

Ming Yu’s face went pale with fright, but she still gathered her courage and spoke to Hongli word by word: “The Empress would never allow Yingluo to be buried with her. Your Majesty, you don’t understand the Empress at all—not even a little!”

“You—” Hongli flew into a rage and was about to order her to be sent for martyrdom as well, when his gaze suddenly dropped downward.

A letter lay on the ground between the two of them.

   It seemed… to have fallen out of the cosmetics case along with the jewelry.

   Hongli was silent for a long moment. He bent down, picked up the letter from the floor, unfolded it—and his expression changed instantly.

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