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Chapter 53.3




“The Consort wrote those verses since the time Your Majesty had stopped coming to Chang’an Palace as often…”
“At that time, the Princess was still young, and the Consort was frail and pregnant with the Fifth Highness. Every day she would compose poems in her room, then put them in a box, and once the box was full, she would replace it with a new one.”
“This slave was not serving Her Ladyship at the time, so I only saw Her Ladyship crying with a box in her arms once during the night watch, when Your Majesty…”
When the old momo said this, she seemed to have some scruples. She quietly looked up to see the Emperor’s face but was scared by his gloomy face and hurriedly bowed her head.
When the gloomy-looking Emperor saw the old slave had stopped talking, he shouted, “Go on!”
“This slave… this slave dares not say…”
As she spoke, she kowtowed again, and the other’s appearance with both snot and tears made the Emperor fidgety and disgusted, but because he wanted to know what happened that year, he endured it while angrily promising, “No matter what you say, I will forgive you!!”
“Yes…”
When the old momo received this promise, she settled down and continued, “Your Majesty was very kind to Concubine Yao. Concubine Yao was a talented person at that time, and she once came to visit Consort Liu, who was already in poor health. Consort Liu hadn’t been able to get out of bed and couldn’t see Your Majesty’s face. Moreover, she didn’t have any good friends within the palace, so she wrote a letter and asked Concubine Yao to bring it to Your Majesty.”
“Concubine Yao came again a few days later. At that time, this slave and the others had been blocked left and right. I don’t know what she said to the Consort… I only know that since she left, the Consort cried every night, and her already weak body became even worse.”
The Emperor clenched his fist fiercely.
He never received a letter from Concubine Yao and never heard her mention a word about Consort Liu.
At that time, just what did Concubine Yao say to Consort Liu!?
He clearly knew what happened next in his heart, but he still asked, “Then?”
The old momo didn’t look up, so naturally, she didn’t see the Emperor’s bloodshot eyes. She simply continued talking about the past as she cried more and more, then in a wailing voice,
“After that, the Empress no longer composed any poetry or sought to see Your Majesty but would just take out the papers inside the box to read. Soon after she gave birth to His Fifth Highness, the Consort begged her family to visit the palace. After that, we were told to burn those papers, so that night she vomited blood before the physician even arrived, the Consort had already lost her pulse…”
“The slave’s life was saved by the Consort. When burning those papers, I guessed that the Consort’s life wouldn’t last much longer… At that time, the Consort once wanted to send this fragrance bag into the fire as well, but she hesitated several times and never actually put it in. Finally, she told this slave to wait until she… when she died, to then burn this fragrance bag for her.”
The Emperor, with red eyes, pulled out the two scented bags from his bosom.
Exactly the same color and style, but the only difference was that the owner of one had died early.
The old momo still continued, “This slave knew at that time that after the Consort passes, us slaves would be dispersed to the various palaces and would not be allowed to go back to Chang’an Palace anymore, so considering the Consort’s reluctance to give up this fragrance bag, I was muddled headed for a while, and I took advantage of the chaos and secretly hid it, hoping to be able to see it in remembrance…”
“I beg Your Majesty to spare my life, I really didn’t know there was anything else in this scent bag, I’ve been in the palace since I was a child and I can’t read at all, please spare my life!!!”
The palace didn’t allow the servants and eunuchs to learn to read or write, so it was a big crime to carry a paper with words on it. The Emperor looked down at the old momo, who kept kowtowing and begging for forgiveness, as his mind kept flashing back to the beginning.
***
A moment later, in his mind was a woman dressed in plain clothes who was pulling a kite string as she looked back at him in surprise.
“His Majesty’s government affairs are already numerous, so why are you still flying a kite with this consort?”
After a while, she stood at the table with him. She blushed as he held her hand to paint.
He laughed at her. “If you’re so meticulous in painting flowers and birds, how come you’re at a loss when it comes to painting this landscape?”
She looked at him with shy eyes, then argued in a low voice, “This consort has stayed at home since I was a child, and since I’ve entered the palace and never been outside before, how can I paint when I’ve never seen a landscape.”
“It doesn’t matter, then I will paint it. In the future, you can just tell me what you want to see, and I’ll just paint them one by one.”
She became even more embarrassed. She had always looked at him with gentle eyes. “Your Majesty is saying that now, but what am I to do if you don’t honor it?”
“If I don’t keep my promise, beloved Consort will paint me a flower and exchange it with me for a painting of what you want.”
A while later, he again had tender feelings for the new court ladies, but felt a little guilty and had planned to visit Chang’an Palace. However, on the way, he saw two sneaky court ladies.
“I heard that Consort Liu had an engagement before she entered the palace?”
“Do you want to die!? Where did you hear that!”
“I’m only going to tell you. There’s a new palace maid in the room we share, and she’s from the same hometown as Consort Liu. She told me herself that Consort Liu and her cousin were in love. So if His Majesty hadn’t summoned Consort Liu to enter the harem, I’m afraid they would have been married already.”
“Stop it now, you’ll get into trouble!”
When the two maids finished speaking, they turned around but were confronted by his livid face.
“Drag them down and cane them!”
Soon after, the room full of people who lived with the two maids were also punished to die, and the eunuchs who served beside him on that day were silenced as well.
He still visited Chang’an Palace, but he couldn’t see the gentle tenderness in Consort Liu’s eyes.
At that time, he was already carried away by anger, thinking that Consort Liu surely wanted to have been flying freely with her cousin.
Then this was especially so after he ordered her cousin to become an official in a land with miasma and soon news came back of his ‘sacrifice in the line of duty’, and the relationship between the two of them directly dropped to the freezing point.
At that time, he still had a glimmer of hope.
That as long as Consort Liu remained gentle with him, he would forget about the past.
But even up until Consort Liu died, there still wasn’t a gentle word from her.
No, that was wrong…
The Emperor stood up with a white face and wobbled as he tried to take two steps forward but stumbled and nearly fell to the ground.
On the side, the old eunuch hurriedly supported him, “Your Majesty! Your Majesty, are you… all right? Your Majesty… “
“Painting…”
“Painting…”
The Emperor finally spoke but while ignoring the kneeling momo, he stumbled out despite the old eunuch’s anxious calls.
***
He was old and no longer as strong as he was when he was young. When he arrived at Consort Yao’s Palace, Consort Yao was dining. And when she saw him, she stood up in surprise, showing tenderness on her face. “Why did Your Majesty come here at this time?”
“Consort Yao, I will ask you.”
The Emperor wore a dragon robe and a crown on his head. Everything was neat, but somehow, he seemed to cut a very sorry figure.
He panted as his eyes stared at this Consort who given birth to the Second Prince for him.
“Back then, before Consort Liu died, did she give you a letter?”
Panic flashed in Consort Yao’s eyes, but she hurried to deny it.
“Where did Your Majesty hear this? There was no friendship between this concubine and Consort Liu. How would she write to me?”
The Emperor didn’t miss her panic.
His expression gradually became one of fury.
“Good! You won’t say it, will you!?”
“Someone! Bring the Second Prince over here!!!”
“Your Majesty?!”
Consort Yao looked incredulously at the Emperor in front of her who was smiling at her just yesterday. “What does this have to do with Ling’er at this point?”
The Emperor looked at her as if he were looking at a dead person.
“If you don’t say it, I’ll send him out of the palace to the miasmic lands, never to return to the capital for an eternity. Tell me, yes or no?!”
Consort Yao was scared and collapsed to the ground. “Your Majesty, Your Majesty! Ling’er is your own son, Your Majesty!”
But no matter how much she cried out, the Emperor still said nothing. Looking at his expression, she knew no matter what she said today he would not listen.
The two confronted each other for a few minutes.
The Emperor was so angry that he directly laughed. “It seems that the Second Prince is not very important in your heart, good! I will help you, someone come! Immediately send the decree to send the Second Prince! Shen Huling is to leave for the miasmic lands and never return to the capital.”
“Your Majesty!!!”
Having originally believed that he wouldn’t be so cruel to his own child, Consort Yao cried and trembled, then hurriedly hugged his leg when she saw that he was leaving.
“Begging Your Majesty for mercy, begging Your Majesty for mercy!!”
The Emperor didn’t have any intent on being merciful and still turned to go. Consort Yao had already lost her mind and shouted out in a panic: “Consort Liu did give a letter to this concubine!! It’s just that there was nothing inside but a picture of an orchid, I dare not hide it, I beg Your Majesty to forgive Ling’er ah!!”
The Emperor’s footsteps stopped.
Words from the past rang true, especially as they were still ringing in his ears.
——”If I don’t keep my promise, beloved Consort should draw a flower and exchange it with me for a painting you want.”
He stumbled a few steps, his sight went black, and he could barely keep standing.
“Flower…”
“Sure enough… it was a flower…”
He suddenly felt a dull pain in his chest, and before he could react, he heard people around him screaming in horror.
“Your Majesty!!”
The Emperor held out his hand and wiped his mouth, only to find that there was blood.
Blood?
He took two steps forward in a trance as if the plainly clothed woman was standing in front of him and calling him with a smile.
“Yu’er…”
He let out a cry, felt another pain in his chest, and coughed up another mouthful of blood.
It turned out that I was the one who had missed it…