Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 111: Exile

   A wooden tray was presented in front of Wei Yingluo.

On it lay three items, from left to right: a dagger, white silk, and a bottle of crane-top red poison.

“Yingluo,” said the old eunuch holding the tray, his face kind and benevolent. “This is a special courtesy granted only because of your absolute loyalty to the Empress. For anyone else, it would be nothing more than a single rope around the neck. Choose one yourself.”

Wei Yingluo smiled slightly, filled with an indescribable sense of freedom.

Without the slightest hesitation, she picked up the white-jade-like medicine bottle. A relieved smile curved her lips—like someone utterly exhausted who had finally found the medicine that would let them sleep forever.

She slowly unscrewed the bottle, closed her eyes, and brought it to her lips.

But before the crane-top red could touch her mouth, a hand suddenly reached out from the side and knocked the bottle away.

Wei Yingluo opened her eyes and saw Li Yu standing beside her, panting heavily as if he had run all the way here, his forehead covered in dense beads of sweat. It took him quite a while to catch his breath before he spoke:

“Wei Yingluo, His Majesty has pardoned you. You don’t have to die!”

Yet Wei Yingluo showed no gratitude. She replied coldly, “Why?”

Her expression made it seem as though the pardon was not a mercy granted to her, but a living torment.

As if he had already anticipated this reaction, Li Yu sighed and handed her the letter that Hongli had instructed him to deliver.

“This is the Empress’s final decree.”

Wei Yingluo was stunned. She snatched the letter from his hand and hurriedly unfolded it. The words inside read:

“To the Emperor: Once I; Rongyin departs, it will be an eternal farewell. Only my maid, Yingluo, is loyal, upright, and unyielding—too resolute to bend. She is not suited to remain in the palace. I beseech Your Majesty to permit her to leave the palace and grant her freedom. I wish you take good care of yourself. Respectfully, Fucha Rongyin.”

   “Your Ladyship…” Tears welled up in Wei Yingluo’s eyes. One hot teardrop had just begun to fall when she quickly lifted her hand to catch it, preventing it from landing on the paper and smudging the last thing her Ladyship had left for her.

“But while the death penalty may be spared, lesser punishments are hard to escape,” Li Yu said from the side. “Wei Yingluo, His Majesty commands you to set out at once. You are to remain in the Changchun Immortal Pavilion at the Yuanmingyuan, guarding the Empress’s memorial portrait, and you are never to return to the Forbidden City for the rest of your life!”

Yuanmingyuan.

   Dressed in plain green robes, Wei Yingluo held a broom in her hand, looking exactly like a newly arrived palace maid assigned to sweeping duties. She gazed at the lake-and-mountain scenery before her, the pavilions and towers—for other palace women and concubines, being banished here would feel like entering a cold palace. But for Wei Yingluo, it was a peach-blossom paradise of seclusion.

No more need to entangle herself in the palace’s schemes and deceptions, no more constant vigilance against hidden arrows shot from front or behind. Though food, clothing, and daily necessities were much simpler here, there was one advantage no other place could offer.

“Your ladyship.” Wei Yingluo walked into the Changchun Immortal Pavilion and looked at the memorial portrait before her.

Three sticks of sandalwood incense burned on the offering table, thin white smoke curling upward and drifting gently across the face of the statue.

Skilled artisans had carved the Empress’s features into white jade. At first glance, it looked vividly lifelike—as though the Empress were gazing down from a high platform with gentle, compassionate, almost Bodhisattva-like eyes, smiling softly at Wei Yingluo.

Wei Yingluo set the broom aside, knelt reverently on the apricot-yellow meditation cushion, pressed her palms together, closed her eyes in prayer, then kowtowed three resounding times before rising again. Picking up the broom, she walked back outside.

Compared to the imperial palace, Yuanmingyuan was her true home.

Here, she could spend day and night in the company of the Empress’s memorial portrait, imagining that Niangniang was still by her side, patiently guiding her hand to write characters…

Swish— Without brush or ink, Wei Yingluo used the broom to trace strokes on the ground.

“Quite leisurely and carefree, aren’t you?” A teasing voice suddenly sounded behind her.

Wei Yingluo turned and exclaimed in surprise, “Brother! How are you here?”

Yuan Chunwang was dressed in the same plain palace-servant attire as she was, carrying a bucket used for sprinkling and sweeping. He smiled and said, “I’ve been transferred to Yuanmingyuan.”

“You already manage the storeroom of the Internal Affairs Department, and you’ve earned the favor of Noble Consort Xian,” Wei Yingluo murmured. “A bright future was right in front of you. You… how could you…”

He reached out and lightly flicked her forehead with his finger, laughing. “Whether it’s the golden hall of the throne or the endless torments of hell, we’ll always be together. You promised me yourself—have you forgotten everything?”

Yingluo touched her forehead. “I don’t think those were your exact words.”

Yuan Chunwang let out an “Oh.” “Just a few words shorter: share blessings together, share hardships together.”

That was missing more than just a few words.

Wei Yingluo fell silent for a long moment before saying, “Have you gone mad? You worked so hard to climb up, finally got your chance—and now you’re throwing it all away!”

Yuan Chunwang scooped up a ladle of water from the bucket and sprinkled it over the flower bed, saying with perfect calm, “Good that you know! Remember everything I’ve done for you today. Don’t ever disappoint me, or I swear I won’t let you off.”

Wei Yingluo felt both moved and guilty. Looking at his sweat-soaked back, she suddenly stepped forward, snatched the bucket from his hand, and said, “I’ve already finished sweeping my side. Let me help you water the flowers for a while. You go sit over there and rest!”

Although the Yuanmingyuan was vast, there were never enough hands. From spring to autumn, the two of them helped each other: you sweep my section of the ground for a while, I water your flowers for a bit; I feed you a mouthful of rice, you give me a sip of water. They tasted the sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy of life together; they walked the uncertain road side by side, supporting one another. Many things happened during that time—for example, Fuheng led troops on campaign to Jinchuan; and also… a state cannot go a single day without an empress, so Noble Consort Xian was conferred the title of Empress.

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