Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 152: The Empress Dowager and the Empress

   The Empress felt utterly useless.

   She held the power of life and death over an entire harem of women, yet she could not save her own father’s life. On the surface she stood above ten thousand people, second only to one—yet at the most critical moment, all she could do was kneel on the ground, powerless to accomplish anything else.

She had taken not a single drop of water nor a morsel of food, kneeling for a full day and night. Finally, the door opposite her creaked open.

“Empress.” Hongli slowly walked up to her. “You have knelt here all night long—are you trying to threaten me?”

Li Yu held a lantern in his hand; its light fell on the Empress’s face, stinging her eyes until tears welled up. She raised her head and said: “Your Majesty, the disaster relief grain has been skimmed away layer by layer. By the time it reached my father’s hands, almost nothing was left.”

Hongli was taken aback.

“Do you know how the other relief kitchens are operating?” the Empress questioned him word by word. “Either they extort the local gentry and wealthy merchants, or they fill the quotas with tree bark and grass roots, then suppress the starving people with heavy troops so that the disaster victims dare to be angry but dare not speak. My father was the stupidest of them all—he went door to door visiting the powerful families, yet he was no good at threats or inducements, so he collected far too little. In the end, he took out all of his own family assets—including the residence and fields bestowed by Your Majesty, all sold off. Even… the very house he himself lived in, his last remaining piece of property.”

The Empress had never been someone willing to sit and wait for death.

She knew that relying on emotion alone would hardly move Hongli, so she desperately needed to prove one thing… to prove that her father was innocent. To that end, she had even gone to Hongzhou and asked him to help her gather information about what was happening outside.

As for why Hongzhou obeyed the woman who belonged to his older brother… for the time being, she refused to think about it.

“…When the disaster victims rioted, he delayed sending out the soldiers for the longest time, terrified of injuring unarmed common people. But they nearly beat him to death! Only when the soldiers were finally enraged by the mob’s brutality did the casualties occur afterward.” The Empress spoke as though her heart were bleeding like a cuckoo crying blood. “Was it really incompetence? He could not bear it. He simply could not!”

Hongli sighed. “I know.”

That answer instantly chilled half of the Empress’s heart.

He knew…

He clearly knew, yet he had still refused to release her father.

In that moment the Empress understood everything. Hongli’s delay in freeing him was not because he did not believe, but because he could not.

The realization made her blood run ice-cold in an instant; her vision went blank and her body swayed unsteadily. After a moment she fiercely bit the tip of her tongue, clinging to one last shred of hope: “…I understand. You face many difficulties. Therefore I dare not beg for complete forgiveness—only that, considering how hard he tried with all his heart… please spare his life!”

Hongli looked at the woman before him. She was not the woman he loved most, yet she was the best Empress. She possessed every virtue that Wei Yingluo lacked: respectful and obedient, virtuous and gentle, never complaining and never demanding. The entire harem, entrusted to her hands, was managed with perfect order.

Even if he set aside her merits, he could not ignore her hardships. Hongli truly could not bear to refuse a woman who had given so much—for him, and for the harem. With another sigh, he reached out to help her up: “Very well, I will not execute him. Get up first… Empress—Empress! Someone, come! Summon the imperial physician!”

Perhaps because she had knelt on the ground too long and gone without food for too long, in the surge of great joy she suddenly fainted.

When she slowly regained consciousness, she was already lying in the bedchamber of Chengqian Palace.

Zhen’er personally served her a bowl of medicinal soup. The Empress took only a few hasty sips before asking her: “Has my father been released?”

“The Emperor has already issued an order: Lord Father’s death sentence is commuted, and he is to be exiled to Ningguta.” Zhener brought a spoonful of medicinal decoction to her lips. “The one handling this matter is Prince He.”

The Step Empress pushed the spoon away. “When was the order issued?”

Zhener: “Just today.”

The Step Empress: “Quickly, help me pack some things. Let Prince He deliver them to my father for me.”

Zhener had originally wanted the Empress to remain lying down while she packed everything herself, but how could the Step Empress stay in bed? She struggled to get up and, together with Zhener, packed a bundle.

“Ningguta is a place of bitter cold.” The Step Empress stuffed a thick garment into the bundle. “We need to bring more warm clothing… What about the medicine?”

“Here.” Zhener handed over a bottle of wound ointment.

As the Step Empress tucked the medicine bottle inside, she murmured incessantly: “His leg was injured by someone. There won’t be any good doctors along the way, nor time to recover properly. I only hope these wound medicines can lessen some of his pain…”

Sending the old generation burying the young generation is tragic; burying the old generation by the young generation is equally tragic. Ningguta is ten thousand li from the capital—once parted today, they might never meet again in this lifetime.

One bundle could never hold all a daughter’s sentiments. She packed item after item in, then took some out again, only to repack them. In the end the bundle was stuffed full, with many more things left beside it that simply couldn’t fit.

“Go now,” the Step Empress said wearily. “Deliver this bundle to Prince He for me.”

Zhener hugged the bundle tightly, nodded, and before leaving asked, “Is there any message you would like Prince He to convey to Lord Father on your behalf?”

The Step Empress gave a bitter smile. Through the cloth of the bundle, she gently stroked the knee pad inside. “Tell him… your daughter is unfilial and cannot personally see him off. Please ask him to take good care of himself.”

Zhener nodded and departed.

Left alone in the room, the Step Empress picked up the unfinished bowl of medicinal decoction and slowly finished it, spoonful by spoonful.

“Is there hot soup in Ningguta?” She couldn’t help letting her thoughts wander. “Are the clothes I prepared thick enough… Ningguta is truly very cold, so very cold…”

The door creaked open.

The Step Empress turned her head and asked with a weak smile, “How did things go?”

“Your Ladyship…” Zhener hesitated, her expression strange.

The smile on the Step Empress’s face faded bit by bit. Her ice-cold fingers tightened around the medicine bowl. “Speak! What happened?”

“Your Ladyship…” Zhener hesitated for a long while before finally choking out, through sobs, “the Old Master… has taken his own life.”

In the prison cell, there was no daylight—only the torches on the walls and in the jailer’s hands burned, their flickering light illuminating the corpse ahead.

Hongzhou held the blue cloth bundle Zhener had given him, standing before the body with a dark and gloomy face.

Blood flowed from all seven orifices; the face was twisted in agony. One hand still clutched fiercely at the throat, as though desperately trying to claw something out from inside.

Poison suicide?

“…Where would poison come from in a prison cell?” Hongzhou ground his teeth, roaring inwardly. “He absolutely did not kill himself!”

If even he refused to believe it, how could his daughter possibly believe it?

After two days of fasting, Hongli finally had no choice but to visit Chengqian Palace.

“Your Majesty.” On the bed, the Step Empress—with her long hair unbound and wearing only a plain white garment—slowly turned her head. Her clear black-and-white eyes fixed straight on him. “You have finally come.”

Hongli stood with hands behind his back. “Empress, my decree arrived one step too late.”

Hearing this explanation, the Step Empress said nothing. She simply continued to stare straight at him.

“…I have already issued an edict to have Naerbu’s funeral affairs properly arranged,” Hongli said. “If you wish to handle them personally, I can permit that as well.”

Despite all these explanations, the Empress remained silent, simply staring at him—staring until a chill crept into his heart.

“…Rest well,” Hongli finally said. But just as he turned to leave, the Empress behind him spoke.

“Did Your Majesty kill him?”

Hongli’s footsteps halted. “No.”

The Empress fixed her gaze on his back. This time it was no longer a question, but a statement: “Then it was the Empress Dowager who acted.”

Hongli whipped around. “Empress! Your father took his own life!”

His explanation—or rather, his cover-up—caused the Empress to burst into uncontrollable laughter.

“My father was loyal and straightforward; he was dull-witted, yes—but he was still a human being. And any human being clings to life.” The Empress wiped away the tears that had come from laughing so hard. “Otherwise, a few days ago he would not have set aside his dignity to come beg me… Tell me, how could a man like that possibly commit suicide?”

“Empress,” Hongli said gravely, “the man is already gone. Pursuing this further is meaningless.”

The Empress smiled at him. “Your Majesty, my father suffered an injustice. He has become, in the eyes of the world, a great corrupt official who, fearing punishment, hanged himself in prison. As his daughter, am I supposed to pretend I saw nothing and say not a single word?”

Hongli fell silent.

No matter how virtuous or how deferential she was, the Empress was still a person. And any person has parents; they can be filled with towering rage at the injustice done to their father or mother—even to the point of throwing caution to the wind.

“…Empress, I know you are deeply grieved.” Hongli understood this and could not bear to blame her—yet he also could not bear to blame the other woman. “You may blame me, hate me—but do not blame the Empress Dowager.”

But how could the Empress not blame her? How could she not hate her?

If Naerbu had truly embezzled the relief funds and met such an end, she would have had nothing to say.

The problem was that he had not.

Her father not only had not embezzled a single grain of relief money—he had used his entire family fortune to fill the shortfall, and in the end he had paid with his life. And the result? Utter disgrace, reviled by all.

“Your Majesty.” The Empress refused to swallow this bitterness. She scoffed with icy disdain. “Do you truly believe the Empress Dowager acted without any selfish motive?”

Hongli’s expression darkened. “Empress, no matter how heartbroken you are, you should not be disrespectful to the Empress Dowager.”

The Empress scoffed. Through Hongzhou she had already had the truth investigated—and what she learned went far beyond her father’s innocence. Now that her father was dead, there was no longer any need to conceal anything for others. She immediately said:

“Do you know that the Empress Dowager’s own nephew was also involved in the embezzlement case?”

Zhener gave a start and quietly tugged at the Empress’s sleeve.

“…As soon as Father’s case broke, the Empress Dowager’s brother and sister-in-law entered the palace to plead for mercy. If the investigation were carried to the end, the Empress Dowager’s Niohuru family would also be implicated.” The Empress paid no heed and continued, “That is why she unhesitatingly pushed my father forward to be the scapegoat!”

“Master!” Zhener was terrified and immediately seized her hand. “Don’t say any more!”

The other palace servants either knelt or bowed their heads, wishing desperately that they had gone deaf so they would not have to hear such a terrifying secret.

Yet the Empress pushed Zhener aside, stepped down from the bed, and walked straight up to Hongli. Her face wore a smile, but her eyes brimmed with tears:

“Your Majesty, the officials are mediocre, greedy, muddle-headed, and cunning—and the splendid, flower-filled rear palace is exactly the same! Everyone is an actor, performing the grand spectacle of a flourishing age and an enlightened era. They band together to deceive you, to fool you. Even though you rise before dawn and retire long after dusk, working tirelessly day and night, you still cannot protect the wronged ministers, and you cannot eradicate all the insatiable corrupt vermin!”

This time it was Hongli who stared at her for a long while.

“…Li Yu,” he finally spoke. “The Empress is ill. Summon the imperial physicians to diagnose and treat her.”

After he left, Zhener was drenched in cold sweat and no longer had the strength to stand. She collapsed onto the edge of the bed and let out a long breath:

“Your Ladyship… please, never say such things again. Today His Majesty did not punish you, but next time… who knows what might happen…”

“Yes, exactly—I didn’t say anything wrong, yet I’m the one being punished.” The Empress said in a faint, distant voice. “Clearly it was the Empress Dowager who did wrong, but because her son is the Emperor, she doesn’t have to face any consequences…”

“Empress!” Zhener rushed over, wishing she could reach out and cover her mouth.

Fortunately, after that remark, the Empress fell silent again. A single candlestick burned on the table, and she stared fixedly at the flickering flame, lost in thought.

When the candle went out, Zhener brought a new one and relit it.

The newly born flame leaped into the Empress’s eyes, illuminating a wild ambition that had sprung from nowhere.

“I used to think that once I became Empress, I could rest easy—that I could protect myself and my family.” The Empress thought to herself. “It turns out being Empress isn’t enough. I need to become Empress Dowager… and have a son who becomes Emperor. Only then can I truly protect myself and my family…”

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