Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 157: Heart Dead to Ashes

   “Your Majesty.” Li Yu came to report, “The Empress has arrived and says she has an important matter to discuss.”

“Let her enter.” Hongli spoke while looking deeply worried.

Yingluo had been far too impulsive. Even if she wanted to deal with Erqing, she should not have used such extreme means. The real problem now was how to return that corpse—with blood still seeping from the mouth and nose—to the Fucha residence. Sending it back like this would surely cause an enormous uproar.

The most urgent task was therefore to disguise the body—at least on the surface—so it appeared to be suicide rather than poisoning.

For that, at least one imperial physician would be needed…

“Your Majesty.” The Empress entered, and as expected, a imperial physician followed beside her. She hesitated, then said, “I was ordered to handle the matter concerning Lady Zhongyong, but unexpectedly learned a secret… This matter concerns Consort Ling of Yanxi Palace. After much consideration, I decided I must report it to Your Majesty and let you decide how to handle it yourself.”

Hongli sighed. “Is there some difficulty?”

In the end, he had still chosen to shield Wei Yingluo. This emperor who ruled the world found himself helplessly at a disadvantage when it came to matters of the heart between man and woman.

The Empress glanced at the imperial physician beside her. “Imperial Physician Liu, tell His Majesty in detail what you have verified.”

“Yes.” Imperial Physician Liu said respectfully, “This humble servant was ordered to handle Lady Zhengyong’s body, which required a considerable amount of medicinal herbs. Unexpectedly, many of the herbs had disappeared without a trace. Upon investigation, most of them had been taken by Imperial Physician Ye.”

Hongli felt baffled, even faintly displeased. The finger wearing the emerald ring gently tapped the tabletop as he said coolly, “Consort Ling’s health is poor. Imperial Physician Ye has always been ordered to take her peace pulse. Empress, did you come here late at night just to tell me this?”

“Imperial Physician Liu,” the Empress said, “you still haven’t told His Majesty exactly what kinds of medicines Imperial Physician Ye took.”

“Ginseng, goji berries, and also… also…” Imperial Physician Liu lowered his head even further, finally gritting his teeth and saying, “Consort Ling has been taking contraceptive decoction all along.”

BOOM——

A flash of lightning streaked across the window, illuminating Hongli’s face deathly pale.

Yanxi Palace.

   After removing the last hairpin and gently placing it into the dressing case, Wei Yingluo, wearing only a thin white inner garment, quietly looked at herself in the bronze mirror.

In the mirror was the emperor’s most favored consort — endlessly doted upon, almost always the one summoned to serve in the imperial bedchamber. Yet she had never conceived, so the body beneath her clothes remained as slender and delicate as a young girl’s, without the slightest sign of swelling.

But Wei Yingluo knew there was a price for this.

“This humble servant respectfully greets Your Majesty’s peace.”

“Get out!”

The door behind her was suddenly kicked open. Hongli stormed in, face full of fury: “Everyone get out!”

No one knew why he was so furious, and Wei Yingluo didn’t know either — until he slammed the door shut behind him, rushed over, and seized her wrist in a tight grip: “Wei Yingluo, the ‘health-nourishing soup’ you drink every month — what medicine is it really?”

Wei Yingluo was startled.

“It’s contraceptive, isn’t it?” Hongli panted. He had clearly run all the way here; his shoulders were soaked, as though drenched by rain.

Wei Yingluo stared at his shoulders and couldn’t speak for a long time.

Hongli wasn’t a fool. He had only been willing to live with his eyes covered because he loved her. Now the Empress had brutally torn off that blindfold, forcing him to see her clearly. With bitter pain he said, “You approached me to avenge the Empress, didn’t you?”

Wei Yingluo was silent for a very long time before finally giving a single nod.

As expected. Hongli’s heart ached sharply. “Every time you served me in bed, every time you spoke to me, every time you tried to please me — it was all to raise your own status, to gain the capital to contend with Noble Consort Chun, wasn’t it?”

Wei Yingluo closed her eyes. “…Yes.”

She was like an assassin. That single “yes” was the sharpest blade in the world, stabbing a wound straight into his heart. Hongli took two deep breaths, as though he had lost too much blood; even his lips began to turn pale. “…Why admit it now? Is it because Noble Consort Chun is dead, and in your eyes I no longer have any value to be used, so you’ve stopped hiding it and stopped trying to please me?”

“I…” Wei Yingluo hesitated, “…I…”

I just feel that I have wronged Her Majesty the Empress.

   Erqing had become her nightmare. Whenever she closed her eyes, she would see Erqing clutching her leg, her face covered in blood streaming from her nose and mouth, grinning at her viciously: “Wei Yingluo, I betrayed the Empress—and so did you! Don’t forget, you personally promised her that you would never be with His Majesty, never steal her husband!”

   She had looked so conflicted that Hongli misunderstood her meaning.

“…I really am a fool.” He gave a bitter laugh, the sound wretched and broken. “What was I even hoping for? You secretly drank the contraceptive decoction—why? Because in your heart, I’m nothing at all. I’m just a tool you used. You never wanted to bear a child for a tool.”

In that instant, his heart turned to ashes.

“…You don’t need to drink it anymore.” Hongli slowly released her hand and turned his back to her. “From now on… I won’t appear in front of you again.”

Outside, the rain was still falling. Without looking back, he strode straight into the downpour.

Behind him, Wei Yingluo slowly collapsed to the floor.

“Your Ladyship.” Ming Yu hurried over to support her. Seeing her look so lost and devastated, she tried to comfort her: “You did nothing wrong. The one who’s wrong is His Majesty. There are so many women in the world, yet he had to favor Erqing of all people—she’s the Empress’s own sister-in-law, Fuheng’s wife…”

“I’m fine.” Wei Yingluo cut her off, her voice exhausted to the extreme. “I already foresaw this ending for myself long ago. I even looked forward to it. I used him to take revenge. Once the revenge was complete, I let the contraceptive decoction matter come to light so I would fall from favor. Otherwise, how could I ever face the Empress?”

“But…” Ming Yu looked at her with worry. “Why are you crying?”

Wei Yingluo froze. She raised a hand to touch her cheek; her fingertips came away warm with tears.

“Why am I crying?” She stared at the tears on her fingers, finding it unbelievable herself.

Her great revenge had been accomplished. She had gotten exactly what she wanted. So why… did her heart feel so unbearably painful?

   Ming Yu gazed at her with pity. She took out a handkerchief and gently wiped away the tears. The tears flowed like the rain outside the window—endless, unstoppable. With a sigh, she simply reached out and pulled Wei Yingluo into her arms, resting the other woman’s head on her shoulder. Softly she said, “If you want to cry, then cry. I’m here with you. Even if His Majesty never comes again, even if Yanxi Palace becomes a cold palace, at least I’ll always be by your side.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Wei Yingluo leaned against her shoulder, choking on her words. “You still have to get married.”

“I’m not getting married anymore.” Ming Yu said firmly.

“Then that forehead band you gave Hailancha the other day—was it all for nothing?”

“Let him have it for cheap!”

Hatred gives a person boundless strength; it can enable someone to do things they never thought possible. But once the great enmity is avenged, the person loses their purpose. Their heart becomes hollow—nothing remains except the ashes of the beloved and the ashes of the enemy.

Some people cannot endure a single night like this and choose to end their own lives.

Thanks to Ming Yu’s companionship, Wei Yingluo managed to get through it.

When dawn came, she summoned all the palace servants of Yanxi Palace. While news of her fall from favor had not yet spread, she used the last scraps of authority she still held to reassign most of them to other posts. Almost everyone obeyed the orders—except Ming Yu and Xiaoquanzi, who refused to leave no matter what.

Having no choice but to keep the two of them, Wei Yingluo turned to look at Yuan Chunwang: “Brother, accompany me to a place, will you?”

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