Story of Yanxi Palace, Side Story Chapter 2: Record of the Detached Soul

   Not only Li Yu, but even the Empress was stunned by the words.

   Hongli slowly picked up a green plaque—it belonged to Consort Chun. He said indifferently: “The two of them were sitting together. How is it that the one who met with disaster was the Empress and not her?”

   He picked up another green plaque—Noble Consort Hui: “Among all the women in the rear palace, she is the most arrogant and domineering. If anything happened, nine times out of ten it would be her doing. In the past I could forgive her, but if this time it really was her, I will not spare her.”

   Finally he took Consort Xian’s green plaque. Even this woman whom everyone praised as both virtuous and kind, he did not exempt. In a cold voice he said: “When the Empress met with misfortune, everyone suspected Noble Consort Hui. How is it that no one suspected her? Remember—the ultimate winner would be her…”

   He tossed the green plaque back into the box with a crisp clack. Hongli leaned back into his chair, one hand covering his eyes, and gave a low, bitter laugh:

   “Except for the Empress… not a single woman in this entire rear palace can be trusted…”

   “Your Majesty…” Seeing the profound loneliness radiating from him, the Empress felt a pang of pity. She walked over and gently wrapped her arms around him.

   “Sometimes I really wish I could be a tyrant,” Hongli murmured. “Kill everyone I dislike. Those who failed to help her, those who failed to cure her, those who dared to dream of replacing her—leave not one alive…”

   “You could never do it.” Even knowing he could not hear her, the Empress could not help but speak softly to comfort him. “I know you. You are a wise ruler. You could never slaughter the innocent.”

   “I’m not a good Emperor.” Hongli’s voice gradually grew hoarse. “To have had such thoughts.”

   “It’s not your fault.” Tears slowly welled up in the Empress’s eyes. “You were simply too exhausted, that’s why such thoughts came to you. But you would never actually do it.”

   “I… am not a good husband either.” Hongli covered his eyes with one hand, his voice catching with a slight sob. “Get out!”

   Li Yu hurriedly led all the other eunuchs out in retreat.

   With no one else present, Hongli finally allowed his tears to fall.

   “Empress…” he said through his tears, “I’m sorry…”

   “Your Majesty.” The Empress embraced him from behind and spoke softly. “I… have never blamed you.”

   Ever since you ascended the throne and I became Empress, so many things in our lives have become beyond our control.

   We cannot cry loudly, cannot laugh loudly, cannot even say “I’m sorry” with complete frankness. These heavy burdens are like chains wrapped around us. Wearing these chains as we move forward, the Empress often found it hard to breathe, yet she endured it all. With her translucent hands, she gently wrapped her arms around the man in her embrace and said to him:

   “Don’t cry. Don’t be sad. I’m with you. I will always, always be with you…”

   And so she stayed by Hongli’s side.

   She accompanied him while he read, while he wrote, while he frowned, while he laughed. Gradually, the Empress grew accustomed to her current state—even began to feel that perhaps it would be fine to go on like this forever.

   She had never asked for much. Simply being able to remain by his side was enough. Power, status, rank—they were like sand slipping through her fingers.

   Until a voice sounded in her ear.

   It seemed both far and near, intermittent and broken. The Empress couldn’t help tilting her head to listen. She heard him sobbing:

   “…Can you hear me speaking? Sister!”

It was Fuheng’s voice!

The Empress froze for a moment. She looked at Hongli, then in the direction of Changchun Palace.

“Sister, Mother cries every day because of your illness. Now one of her eyes can no longer see. Father sighs all day long, has no heart for official duties. And Wei Yingluo…” Fuheng’s voice was filled with extreme grief. “The Wei Yingluo you cherished most…”

“Yingluo?” The Empress was stunned. “What happened to Yingluo?”

“She went to take revenge for you.” Fuheng choked out. “She went to kill for you. Now she is on the brink of death. Can’t you wake up? Can’t you go help her?”

The Empress remained silent for a long time.

This out-of-body dream had lasted too long, and it had been too sweet. In the dream, she was merely Hongli’s wife—and she had forgotten that she was also a daughter of the Fucha family, Fuheng’s older sister, the one person Yingluo could truly rely on.

“Sister! Please, wake up, wake up! Only you can help her. Only you can save her…”

“You want to save Wei Yingluo?” This time it was Erqing’s voice. She laughed—a laugh that carried a hint of malice. “If the Empress cannot wake up, there won’t be enough time. If you want to save Wei Yingluo, there is only one way… It’s very simple. Let me tell you.”

The Empress was silent for a long moment. Then suddenly she hurried toward the door. Just as she passed through the threshold, Wei Yingluo was being escorted inside under guard. The two brushed past each other. The Empress said to her:

“Hold on, Yingluo.”

Then she began to run.

After becoming Empress, she had never run so wildly again—casting aside all etiquette, all grace. Sweat poured down like rain, her posture awkward and unrefined, all for the sake of saving one person—or rather, several people’s lives…

“I’m not important?” she asked herself in her heart. “No, I am important. If I live, the Emperor will not weep every night. If I live, Fuheng will not make such a wrong decision. If I live… Yingluo can live…”

It has to be you.

You are not merely “Her Ladyship.” No one else can replace you. Even if you sleep, you continue to live in everyone’s hearts. Someone lives because of you; someone dies for you. You need not worry about your place in this world.

 

“I can’t sleep anymore.”

The Empress rushed into the Changchun Palace and looked at her own body still lying asleep on the bed. Without any more hesitation, she plunged straight in.

“I must wake up!!”

Night passed, dawn arrived. A ray of morning light swept away all the gloom.

Thump——

Inside the bedchamber of Changchun Palace, a figure struggled to climb down from the bed. But she had been lying motionless for too long, her limbs weak and numb, and she immediately fell to the floor in a sitting position.

Hearing the noise, Ming Yu entered holding a candlestick. She froze for a moment, then cried out in joyful surprise:

“Your Ladyship!”

She rushed over to support her, and urgently called for the imperial physicians to be summoned.

“No!” The Empress tightly gripped Ming Yu’s hand and said with all her strength, “Call Fuheng. I want to see Fuheng.”

STORY OF YANXI PALACE CHAPTERS HOME