Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 150: Impermanence

   “Yingluo, why aren’t you hurrying to go apologize to His Majesty?” Ming Yu asked anxiously, at the same time giving a meaningful glance to Xiaoquanzi beside her.

Xiaoquanzi immediately took the hint and chimed in: “Exactly! Dragging it out like this isn’t a solution. Today Shu Bin composed a new piece and invited His Majesty to appraise it together. Before he goes…”

Without needing him to say it, Ming Yu was the first to speak indignantly: “They even sent people to our Yanxi Palace to take back the qin they gave you! If that qin ends up staying with her, how will Yanxi Palace ever show its face again… Hey! Why aren’t you anxious at all!”

Truly it fits the saying: the emperor isn’t worried to death, but the eunuch is worried sick.

The two of them were like ants on a hot pan, yet Wei Yingluo leisurely ate her snacks, only setting down her bowl and spoon after finishing an entire bowl of creamy yogurt. Then she walked over and sat in front of the bronze mirror.

Ming Yu thought she had finally changed her mind. Delighted, she came over: “That’s more like it! Let me redo your hair and makeup—we’ll hurry to the Yangxin Hall…”

But Wei Yingluo merely yawned. “I’m sleepy. Take off my accessories for me. I want to rest.”

Night fell, and Yanxi Palace was wrapped in silence.

Wei Yingluo lay on her side inside the bed curtains, sleeping soundly, when suddenly a zheng note rang right beside her ear. She frowned, turned over, and continued sleeping.

“Thump thump thump!”

“Thump thump thump thump!”

“Thump thump thump thump thump!”

Wei Yingluo shot upright from the bed as if jolted awake from a nightmare.

They say the sound of the qin is graceful, like the tinkling of a mountain spring.

But when it tinkles too urgently, too chaotically… it turns into the sound of firecrackers exploding.

Wei Yingluo clapped both hands over her ears and stormed furiously to the door. She yanked it open and shouted at the person outside: “Your Majesty! It’s already the third watch of the night. Instead of resting at Concubine Shu’s place, what are you doing here?”

The only person in the entire palace who had the audacity to show up at this hour, dancing like a madman at the door of Yanxi Palace’s bedchamber without being dragged away and beaten to death by the guards, was one man alone.

Hongli sat ramrod straight in front of the door, an ancient qin laid across his knees. At first glance he appeared calm and composed, his bearing elegant and outstanding—like Boya by the spring. Then his hand strummed… thump thump thump thump thump!

Not only Wei Yingluo—even the corner of Li Yu’s eye twitched at the explosive racket.

“How is it?” Hongli glanced at her with feigned nonchalance. “My newly acquired piece. I came especially to play it for you. Give me your critique.”

Critique? This was auditory torture! Wei Yingluo planted one hand on her hip and said irritably, “Your Majesty really knows how to joke. Playing music in the middle of the night—what exactly do you want to lecture me about?”

His hand slowed on the strings. Hongli gave her a cool look. “So you do know you’ve done something wrong?”

“Didn’t Your Majesty suspect me of killing Noble Consort Chun—so much so that you wouldn’t even let me fly a kite? I’m already confining myself here to reflect on my faults.” With that, Wei Yingluo moved to close the door and go back to sleep.

“I know.” Hongli said, “You didn’t kill her.”

Her hand paused on the door. Wei Yingluo turned back and stared at him, trying to read the truth in his eyes. “Right now everyone in the palace is saying I killed Noble Consort Chun.”

Hongli gently shook his head, completely unmoved by the gossip. “Given your usual temperament, you wouldn’t deign to kick someone when they’re already down. Moreover, with Noble Consort Chun banished to the cold palace—stripped of everything—you would let her live a couple more years so she could suffer a couple more years of torment.”

Wei Yingluo burst out laughing. “Your Majesty… is that supposed to be praise, or an insult?”

Hongli glanced at her. “Wei Yingluo, in my heart, that’s exactly how petty you are.”

Wei Yingluo sighed inwardly. He was right—she really was that petty.

Death is too easy: eyes close, legs kick once, and it’s over.

That was not what Wei Yingluo wanted.

The previous Empress suffered so much and died in such lonely helplessness—how could she possibly allow Noble Consort Chun to die so easily? She had to make her experience the same pain, the same loneliness, the same despair before permitting her to go underground and accompany the previous Empress.

“Also, I’m very angry,” Hongli suddenly said.

Wei Yingluo was stunned. “Your Majesty knows it wasn’t me who did it—so what are you angry about?”

“It wasn’t you who did it…” Hongli slowly walked up to her; the faint, distinctive scent of ink that belonged only to him drifted over. “Then why didn’t you explain it to me?”

Wei Yingluo remained silent.

“If you don’t explain, it proves you don’t care what I think of you in my heart.” He still wore that calm, unruffled expression, yet for some reason it carried a trace of childish sulkiness. “I… am very unhappy.”

It was as though, in his awkward, roundabout way, he was saying: I did come to explain to you—I do care about you.

“I…” For a moment, Wei Yingluo didn’t know what to say.

She had used every trick in the book, even deliberately offending other consorts, all to seize Hongli’s favor.

But now that he had truly opened his heart and placed it in front of her, she found herself at a complete loss.

Because she had always been someone who repaid kindness with kindness and enmity with enmity. Hongli himself might not even realize it, but the Wei Yingluo standing before him now was actually half a performance—he wanted a woman like this, so she had played the part of such a woman.

…Wei Yingluo knew exactly how to be a favored consort, but she had no idea how to be a lover in a mutual, loving relationship.

Hongli suddenly sighed and pulled the still-dazed woman into his arms. Perhaps unwilling to appear at a disadvantage in this romance, he deliberately spoke in a firm tone: “You’re being completely unreasonable. I shouldn’t have come looking for you!”

Wei Yingluo reflexively replied, “But you still came…”

Hongli: “…”

“Just treat it as an exception this once?” Wei Yingluo offered him an easy way out.

“…It’s not the first time.” Hongli was silent for a long moment before slowly speaking again. “I don’t like making exceptions. I don’t like this version of myself that keeps wavering.”

Before meeting Wei Yingluo, he had always been a man of strict self-discipline.

He never spoke while eating or sleeping; no matter how much he liked a dish, he would eat at most two bites and never take a third. He attended court on time and left on time. Even when bestowing favor on his consorts, he tried his best to be fair—never excessively favoring one, nor coldly neglecting another.

But then Wei Yingluo arrived—like a hammer, she smashed all his persistence, and even smashed himself.

“…Then you—you don’t have to be like this.” Wei Yingluo hesitated. “You can go back to Concubine Shu.”

You’re in turmoil, and so am I… Why don’t we separate for a while and each calm down?

Hongli glanced at her, seemingly misunderstanding her meaning: “Li Yu!”

Li Yu: “This servant is here.”

Hongli: “Tell Concubine Shu not to wait for me tonight. I will be staying at Yanxi Palace.”

Li Yu: “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Hongli pulled Wei Yingluo straight into the bedchamber. Outside, Li Yu shook his head, went off to inform Concubine Shu, and on the way gave Ming Yu a gentle reminder: “Hurry up and put the qin away.”

Ming Yu glanced at the “Moonlit Companion” qin that Hongli had left behind and asked, “Shouldn’t we take it to Concubine Shu?”

“Throughout all this time, it’s only ever been your mistress who takes things from other people’s hands,” Li Yu said with a cheerful chuckle. “Have you ever seen anyone manage to take something from her hands?”

The next day, Chengqian Palace.

   The Step Empress sat by the window, head lowered, sewing a pair of knee pads.

Outside came a few soft knocks at the door. Zhener rose to answer it. After a moment, she returned to the Empress’s side and whispered a few words in her ear.

Having heard what had happened in Yanxi Palace, the Step Empress smiled slightly. “Let them fight and scramble all they like. I will simply keep sewing these knee pads in my hands.”

Zhener had originally assumed the knee pads were being made for Hongli. Hearing this, she asked in surprise, “Your Ladyship, these knee pads are…?”

The needle in the Step Empress’s hand passed through the fabric once more; her gaze beneath the candlelight appeared exceptionally gentle. “My father is getting on in years, and his old cold-leg ailment is growing worse. The ones my mother used to make for him must be very worn by now…”

Suddenly her movements stopped. She stared blankly at the knee pads, lost in thought. Zhener couldn’t help asking, “Your Ladyship, are you thinking of Madam again?”

The Step Empress let out a soft laugh. “Keep sewing. When I was little, Mother was especially strict with me. Every movement—walking, sitting, lying down—had to follow the rules. She tolerated not the slightest carelessness. Only Father doted on me the most; he was always protecting me…”

A palace maid suddenly entered, paid her respects, and said, “Her Majesty the Empress, Lord Naerbu is waiting outside the Qianqing Gate. He requests an audience with Your Ladyship.”

The Step Empress was startled. “Isn’t he in eastern Zhejiang providing disaster relief? Why has he suddenly returned?”

The palace maid replied, “Lord Naerbu said the relief efforts have been properly concluded. Because the anniversary of Madam’s death is approaching soon, he specially requested leave to return to the capital.”

The Step Empress glanced out the window. The sun was already setting; night would fall soon. By the time she reached the palace gate, the gates would likely already be locked for the evening. She sighed softly. “Go tell him it is too late tonight. He may come see me tomorrow.”

Zhener tried to persuade her. “Your Ladyship, Lord Father has traveled long and hard through wind and dust. What harm would there be in making an exception just this once?”

The Step Empress gently shook her head. At least in front of outsiders, in front of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager, she had to appear as self-disciplined as Hongli had once been. “I am the Empress. I must observe palace regulations all the more, lest I give others cause for gossip. Go now.”

The palace maid bowed once more to her, then left to deliver the message at the Qianqing Gate.

A man with slightly graying temples was pacing back and forth outside the gate, hands clasped behind his back, clearly preoccupied with heavy thoughts. When he saw the palace maid approaching, he hurried forward to meet her. Not seeing his daughter behind her, a look of profound disappointment crossed his face.

After hearing the message, he let out a long sigh. “Heaven’s will… it is Heaven’s will.”

The palace maid, noticing his strange expression, asked, “My lord, what is the matter?”

Naerbu said nothing. Suddenly he turned toward the direction of Chengqian Palace and knelt deeply, bowing low, tears choking his voice. “This old minister only wished to see Her Ladyship one last time, but alas, it cannot be. I can only offer distant blessings: may Her Ladyship henceforth enjoy peace, prosperity, good fortune, longevity, and health.”

His words were vague and cryptic, sending the palace maid’s heart pounding. The moment he left, she hurried back toward Chengqian Palace, determined to report this strange behavior to the Step Empress.

At the same time, outside Yangxin Hall, two men stood in tense confrontation.

“Hand it over!” Hongzhou blocked Hailancha’s path and said coldly, “Give me the memorial accusing Lord Naerbu!”

Hailancha looked at him strangely. “Hongzhou, have you gone mad? This is a memorial presented to the Emperor!”

Hongzhou actually reached out to snatch the memorial from his hand. But Hailancha was a first-rate martial artist—how could something in his grasp be taken so easily? When brute force failed, Hongzhou resorted to verbal threats. “It’s nothing but a false accusation! Don’t forget—the ringleader who slandered Lord Sun was beheaded!”

Hailancha was not one to be intimidated. With a wave of his hand: “Step aside!”

Hongzhou still refused to yield and continued to tangle with him. Suddenly, from inside the hall came Hongli’s voice: “Hailancha, come in!”

Hailancha strode quickly inside. Behind him, Hongzhou gritted his teeth and followed.

The memorial was very long. Halfway through reading it, Hongli tossed it aside in fury. “What a fine Lord Naerbu! Of all the things he could have embezzled, he actually set his sights on disaster relief grain!”

Hongzhou hurriedly explained, “Your Majesty, Lord Naerbu has always been diligent, honest, and incorruptible. This matter is surely a frame-up. I beg Your Majesty to grant your younger brother a little time so that I may thoroughly investigate…”

“Frame-up?” Hongli interrupted with a cold laugh. “Every day he distributed what was little more than plain water as congee, provoking a riot among the disaster victims—185 dead, more than 500 injured. Is that also a frame-up?!”

Hongzhou was rendered speechless.

Hongli scoffed with a sneer and turned his gaze to Hailancha, issuing the order: “Immediately throw Naerbu into prison and have the Ministry of Justice interrogate him rigorously!”

Hailancha: “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Inside Chengqian Hall.

   The Empress was still seated by the window, in the same spot as yesterday, at the same time of evening as yesterday. The only difference was… the knee pad in her hands had now been fully sewn.

The news brought back by the palace maid yesterday had left her weighed down with worry; she hadn’t slept at all the entire night.

Since she couldn’t sleep, she stopped forcing herself. She simply got up and continued sewing the knee pad in her hands, planning that as soon as daybreak came, she would summon her father and give the knee pad to him.

The knee pad was made of the finest material, with no elaborate patterns on the front—only two characters embroidered on the back: “Peace and Safety.”

Her expectations of this father were not high. If he truly were a capable and competent man, his wife would not have died early, and his daughter would not be left alone in the palace, fighting until her head bled and her face was torn…

“Peace and safety are enough,” the Empress murmured to herself, clutching the knee pad tightly. “Peace and safety are enough…”

“Your Ladyship!” Zhener rushed in from outside. “Niangniang, something terrible has happened! The Old Master—the Old Master has been thrown into prison!”

Thud—the knee pad suddenly fell from her hands.

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