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Translator's note: Finally there are advance chapters availaible on Kofi
Chapter 127
The fifth year of Hanyu, April thirteenth.
The Empress died.
Mourning cries rose from Kunning Palace. Whether genuine or feigned, everyone wore grief on their faces, bowing their heads as they knelt on the ground. The wails spread farther and farther until the entire imperial palace fell into silence.
In the long, dark red corridor, Ling Zhāoróng heard the mourning sounds. Her steps paused. Suddenly she gripped Fu Ling's hand:
"...Did you hear it?"
A strange flush appeared on her face. Even her weak, feeble voice was particularly clear in the silence. Liu An watched this expression of Ling Zhāoróng with alarm and trepidation. The expression in her eyes seemed eerily satisfied. Liu An discreetly swallowed.
Fu Ling was on the verge of tears. She kept nodding: "This servant heard it! This servant heard it!"
Receiving this affirmative answer, Ling Zhāoróng suddenly laughed aloud. Her powerless limbs seemed to gain strength. She laughed with abandon, laughing in that dark red corridor until she bent forward and back, tears nearly falling.
Liu An felt there was no need to continue investigating, Ling Zhāoróng absolutely hated the Empress to the bone.
He still didn't dare be presumptuous with Ling Zhāoróng and urged:
"Your Ladyship, His Majesty is waiting for you at Kunning Palace."
Ling Zhāoróng raised her hand to wipe the tears from her eyes. She seemed entirely unburdened, saying airily:
"Let's go. We'll go see His Majesty."
Kunning Palace was filled with crying. Ling Zhāoróng's arrival only caused a few people's expressions to change. Gu Han looked up and for a moment, her eyes met Ling Zhāoróng's. Before Gu Han could react, Ling Zhāoróng looked away.
Gu Han's breathing grew heavier. She had seen her eldest sister's appearance before death, how similar it was to Ling Zhāoróng now?
Her eyes and brows were light and cheerful, as if recovering from a long illness. In reality, it was merely a final surge of energy before death.
After a moment, Lu Yu emerged from the inner hall. He looked at Ling Zhāoróng before him. This person who had once given him peace of mind and trust now felt completely foreign. She didn't even bother hiding it, listening to the mourning cries, the corners of her eyes showed unconcealed delight.
With just one glance, Lu Yu knew that the nanny had spoken the truth. She truly had been acting on Ling Zhāoróng's orders.
Everything that had happened at Kunning Palace today had nearly overturned Lu Yu's understanding of the world. He suppressed his emotions, looking at Ling Zhāoróng expressionlessly:
"Why?"
Lu Yu believed he'd treated Ling Zhāoróng well, even placing some trust in her. She had chronic illness and preferred quiet, he had forbidden anyone from disturbing her. Any rewards always included a share for Chonghui Palace.
Even the Empress didn't necessarily receive such honor.
So where exactly was she dissatisfied? Why plot against the Empress?
The look in Lu Yu's eyes held disgust. Ling Zhāoróng wasn't surprised at all. The Emperor had trusted her based solely on the gentle, harmless facade she had shown. Now that she had betrayed his trust, it was perfectly reasonable for the Emperor to detest her.
She unhurriedly knelt on the ground, looking up at the Emperor, her eyes distant:
"Your Majesty doesn't understand why I had to harm the Empress, just as I didn't understand back then why Your Majesty wouldn't seek justice for me."
Lu Yu only felt it was absurd.
Seeing the Emperor's expression, Ling Zhāoróng was stunned, then laughed softly:
"Your Majesty has actually forgotten everything."
Lu Yu didn't want to see her in such a deranged state. His eyes darkened. Just as he was about to speak, Ling Zhāoróng interrupted:
"I entered the prince's manor together with the Empress. She was the legitimate wife. I was merely a secondary consort. Your Majesty and she were husband and wife from youth, deeply affectionate."
Lu Yu felt irritated. Ling Zhāoróng and the Empress had indeed entered the palace at the same time, but:
"She never harmed you in the slightest!"
Ling Zhāoróng looked as if she'd heard a joke. She even laughed until tears came, asking Lu Yu with amusement: "Does Your Majesty truly think the Empress was a saint who only became confused and did wrong after becoming pregnant for the sake of her unborn child?"
"Does Your Majesty think I had a difficult birth by chance? Why the young princess has been so frail she can't even leave her rooms until now?!"
Detecting something in her words, Lu Yu suddenly looked at her.
But Ling Zhāoróng no longer looked at him:
"Back then, she clearly attended your bedchamber most often, yet remained childless for so long. She truly was a good mistress—made me trust her, which led to me nearly miscarrying. I fought desperately to give birth to the princess."
"When I was in labor, she suddenly had a headache and fainted. Your Majesty summoned the manor's physician for her, leaving only a few midwives in my courtyard during my delivery. Fu Ling went to beg Your Majesty, but only received word that the physician was applying acupuncture to the Imperial Prince's Consort. She returned empty-handed."
Lu Yu's eyes darkened unfathomably. After so many years, he had long since forgotten the scene then. Only Ling Zhāoróng's words made him recall some fragments:
"She did faint that year, but the moment she opened her eyes, she immediately had the physician rush to your courtyard. She harbored no selfish motives! As for your claim about Fu Ling requesting a physician—that's complete nonsense!"
He had no idea Fu Ling had gone to request a physician. Otherwise, clearly knowing her labor was difficult, how could he possibly have left it unattended?
But precisely because of this, Lu Yu increasingly understood, the truth of events was completely contrary to what he'd known back then.
As his words fell, Ling Zhāoróng immediately challenged him: "Truly no selfish motives?!"
Ling Zhāoróng's eyes turned red as she looked at the Emperor. Years of hatred surged forth:
"The Empress's body had never been ill. That day she suddenly fainted, and Your Majesty actually says she harbored no selfish motives?"
"Does Your Majesty know—during my labor, I smelled a dark fragrance. Later I discovered that the midwife had smuggled a pear blossom scent into the delivery room!"
Lu Yu froze.
Seeing this, Ling Zhāoróng knew he had remembered something. She laughed coldly: "I was the fool. I trusted you and trusted the Empress, which is why I revealed my allergy to pear blossoms. That midwife was personally selected for me by you both!"
"Back then I begged you, said someone had tampered during my delivery. Does Your Majesty still remember what you said?"
Lu Yu pressed his lips together without speaking. He couldn't remember.
But Ling Zhāoróng remembered. She pulled at her lips:
"You told me to stop making trouble. The Imperial Prince's Consort had asked the physician, it was my own carelessness in falling that led to my weakness during labor."
Only then did she realize so-called favor actually meant nothing.
"Your Majesty trusted the Empress, so one word from the Empress could outweigh ten of mine and cover up the truth."
"That's when I started thinking, I also wanted to become someone Your Majesty trusted. So during the southern tour that year, I blocked that arrow for Your Majesty. Even though after returning to the palace I could only rest in bed, requiring constant medication to sustain my life, I was willing."
"Because I knew, only when my life hung by a thread, when I posed no threat, could I truly gain Your Majesty's trust."
Her body had long been ruined. It couldn't get much worse anyway, so she'd fought with everything she had.
What Ling Zhāoróng didn't mention was that she hadn't let the Empress off easy either. The Empress had caused her difficult birth, she had schemed to keep the Empress childless. If the Empress hadn't forcibly taken medicine this time, becoming pregnant would have been nearly impossible for her.
Gu Han looked at Ling Zhāoróng with complicated feelings. If she put herself in her shoes—if someone had caused Ze'er and An'er to be so sickly they couldn't even leave their rooms, she would probably want to skin that person alive.
But she might not be able to do what Ling Zhāoróng did—stake her life to gamble for a trace of the Emperor's trust.
Ling Zhāoróng had gambled. Luckily she had won. In the end, she had taken her revenge.
Gu Han discreetly glanced at Lu Yu. The Emperor trusted Ling Zhāoróng largely because of that life-saving debt. Now that the Emperor knew the so-called life-saving grace was merely calculation, who knew how he felt?
Gu Han thought that even someone as heartless as the Emperor must be suffering now.
Lu Yu looked at Ling Zhāoróng expressionlessly. Having said all this, Ling Zhāoróng seemed to have exhausted her strength. She collapsed powerlessly on the ground, staring vacantly at the sky.
When she'd entered the prince's manor, the weather had been just like today.
Bright but not sweltering, a slight breeze arriving to brush aside the dark hair by her face. Back then she had carried some unease but also wholehearted excitement. She and her close friend, like sisters, were marrying into the same man's household together.
Who knew that before entering the palace, she and the Empress had been the closest of friends?
Otherwise, given her temperament, how could she have trusted the Empress so completely?
She hated the Empress—hated her to the bone, with heart-rending pain.
She had been defeated by the Empress's hand. The Empress died by her scheming. They had been friends in their youth, close companions in their chambers, entered the imperial household together, and now met their ends on the same day. Fate, all of it fate.
Ling Zhāoróng collapsed in Kunning Palace, dying with a smile.
In one day, two palace mistresses had died, leaving everyone anxious and unsettled. Gu Han also lowered her eyelids, her heart full of complicated emotions.
An announcement came from outside the hall. Everyone turned back in surprise.
The Empress Dowager was helped in by Nanny Wu. With one glance she saw Ling Zhāoróng's corpse. She paused and sighed deeply:
"Your Majesty, Ling Zhāoróng plotted against the Empress, but she's paid with her life. Let today's matter end here."
The Empress plotting against imperial heirs, a consort plotting against the Empress—if this spread, the imperial family would lose face. Once the Empress Dowager spoke, no one objected. Lu Yu also didn't wish to say more.
Gu Han and Zhou Bin exchanged glances. Zhou Bin was completely confused—why had her aunt come today?
Soon, the Empress Dowager made her purpose clear:
"After Ling Zhāoróng's passing, the eldest princess has no one to rely on. For now, let her recuperate in my palace. After the Empress's mourning period, we'll find another arrangement for her."
Author's Note:
Kunning Palace: Empress
Yi'an Palace: Consort Shu
Xianleng Palace: Imperial Consort De
Zhaoyang Palace → Main Hall: Xiuyi He
Zhaoyang Palace → Side Hall: Rong Baolin
Yihe Palace → Changchun Pavilion: Female Lead
Rongcui Hall: Beauty Miao
Cuizhu Pavilion: Beauty Lin
Changning Courtyard: Zhou Meiren
Hanleng Palace → (Main Hall transferred to Side Hall): Talented Lady Yuan
Also appearing: Noble Lady Lin, Liu Baolin
Here are the ranks of imperial consorts:
- Empress (皇后 Huánghoù) — Head of the Imperial Harem
- Imperial Noble Consort (皇贵妃 Huáng Guìfēi) — Rank 1
- Noble Consort, Pure Consort, Virtuous Consort, Worthy Consort (贵妃、淑妃、德妃、贤妃 Guìfēi, Shūfēi, Défēi, Xiánfēi)** — Senior Rank 1 (The Four Consorts, with Noble Consort as the highest)
- Consort (妃 Fēi) — Junior Rank 2
- Bright Deportment, Bright Countenance (昭仪、昭容 Zhāoyí, Zhāoróng) — Senior Rank 3
- Cultivated Deportment, Cultivated Countenance (修仪、修容 Xiūyí, Xiūróng) — Junior Rank 3
- Noble Lady (贵嫔 Guìpín) — Senior Rank 4
- Imperial Concubine (嫔 Pín) — Junior Rank 4
- Beauty (美人 Měirén) — Senior Rank 5
- Talented Lady (才人 Cáirén) — Junior Rank 5
- Precious Grove (宝林 Bǎolín) — Senior Rank 6
- Imperial Woman (御女 Yùnǚ) — Junior Rank 6
- Palace Maid (宫女子 Gōngnǚzǐ) — Senior Rank 7
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