The eight-panel brocade screen reached from floor to ceiling. In summer, a layer of green gauze was pasted onto the mother-of-pearl latticework to serve as a room divider and to keep mosquitoes and flies at bay. This winter, as the weather in the capital was unusually cold, a thick layer of jade-patterned quilted satin had been draped over the top. Originally placed in front of the bed as a windbreak, the Old Madam had found it stifling and had it moved behind the bed, creating a small separate space. Another bed had been set up inside, where Jiafu would sleep when she stayed overnight to keep her company.
The Emperor had left the palace in plain clothes, accompanied only by Li Yuangui and two personal guards. It wasn’t until they arrived outside the Pei residence that Pei Quan learned of the Imperial visit. He hurriedly adjusted his attire and led the family members out to welcome them, everyone kneeling in rows. Xiao Lie spoke briefly, saying that the Pei Dowager Lady held an esteemed position and was deeply respected. His eldest grandson was currently away on imperial orders, and having heard that the Dowager Lady was in poor health, he felt concerned and had come from the palace to visit her, dispensing with all formalities.
Pei Quan was moved to tears with gratitude. After rising, he quickly led Xiao Lie to the northern hall where the Old Madam resided. All female attendants withdrew, and two Imperial Physicians accompanied them inside. Seeing that the Old Madam was awake, Pei Quan hurried forward to help her, but Xiao Lie stepped ahead, stopping Pei Quan and telling the Old Madam to remain lying down, with no need to rise.
The Old Pei Dowager called her son over to help her slowly sit up.
Though her face was extremely haggard, her gaze still appeared clear and lucid. She said, “This lowly body of mine hardly merits Your Majesty’s visit from the palace. I am deeply ashamed of my many discourtesies.” Speaking thus, she instructed Pei Quan to support her again as she performed a symbolic kneeling salute from the bed, before leaning back against the carved headboard.
Xiao Lie instructed the accompanying Imperial Physician Hu and another physician to examine the Old Madam. As the two physicians prepared to approach, the Old Pei Dowager shook her head and said, “I am grateful for Your Majesty’s concern, but there is no need to trouble the Imperial Physicians further. These two gentlemen possess the skill to revive flesh and bone, and they have been diligently visiting me daily, which is most arduous for them. However, I know the condition of my own body.”
After speaking a few more sentences, her breathing became slightly labored, and she stopped.
Xiao Lie’s eyes revealed sadness, and he remained silent. The inner chamber fell quiet for a moment.
After a while, Xiao Lie raised his eyes and looked at Li Yuangui standing behind him.
Li Yuangui stepped forward and said, “His Majesty has left the palace tonight out of gratitude for the Dowager Lady’s past care. The two Imperial Physicians may withdraw. Master Pei, you and I should also step outside and wait there.”
Pei Quan quickly complied, and along with the Imperial Physicians, paid respects to Xiao Lie before withdrawing from the inner chamber. He sent everyone away and retreated far back, leaving only Li Yuangui standing outside the northern hall, waiting for the Emperor to emerge.
Only Xiao Lie and the elderly woman on the sickbed remained in the inner chamber. As the candlelight flickered, Xiao Lie rose and approached the sickbed, bending down to say softly, “Dowager Lady, if anything is troubling you, please let me know. If it is within my power, I will certainly grant it.”
The Old Pei Dowager had her eyes slightly closed at first, seeming to drift between consciousness and sleep. Slowly opening her eyelids, she gazed at the Emperor who was leaning toward her. After a moment, her lips moved slightly, but her answer was unrelated to his question: “Your Majesty, when and how did you discover You’an’s identity?”
Jiafu held her breath as she stood behind the brocade screen. Upon hearing the Old Madam ask this question, though unable to see her expression, she could still sense what was happening.
The Old Madam’s tone had changed. When speaking to the Emperor, she no longer displayed the respectful manner she had shown earlier when Pei Quan and others were present. Now her voice seemed to carry a hint of questioning, as if the man standing before her sickbed was not the supreme sovereign of the realm but merely a younger relative.
She was asking the Emperor how he had learned of “You’an’s identity.” Jiafu knew that Pei You’an was the illegitimate son brought home by the Duke of Wei, but how did the Emperor know about this? And what did this have to do with the Emperor? What was the meaning behind the Old Madam’s sudden question?
Jiafu felt somewhat surprised.
But what truly began to astonish her was the Emperor’s reaction that followed.
She peered out through a crack between the panels of the brocade screen.
Xiao Lie’s expression showed no trace of surprise, nor did he display any sign of displeasure that might be expected from receiving such disrespectful questioning.
He simply gazed at the elderly woman on the sickbed, remained silent for a long while, then said softly, “After I returned to Yunnan, the Tubo rebellion had just erupted, so I led troops to suppress it. More than a year later, when I returned to Wuding after quelling the rebellion, I learned that Wenjing had passed away several months earlier at Ci’en Temple…”
His voice was already low, and after finishing this sentence, as if unable to control his emotions momentarily, it broke off abruptly.
The Old Madam remained silent.
After a moment, Xiao Lie spoke again, his voice trembling slightly, changing from the royal “We” to “I”: “I knew that when I left Ci’en Temple, Wenjing’s illness was improving. Imperial Physician Mei personally told me that with a few more days of recuperation, she would recover completely. At that time, I was in Tubo and had always assumed she had returned to the palace, but I never imagined…”
He took a deep breath as if to steady his emotions.
“Later, I secretly sent people back to inquire and learned that shortly after I left, her illness unexpectedly worsened, and after half a year, she passed away at the temple. I simply couldn’t believe it. This matter has weighed on my heart, and I couldn’t let it go. Several years later, I personally and secretly left Yunnan again to find Imperial Physician Mei, who had by then retired to his hometown. Dowager Lady, you know that I once did Physician Mei a favor. He was nearing the end of his life at that time, and before passing, he finally revealed to me that shortly after I left, Wenjing discovered she was with child…”
“It was all my fault. I was the one who caused Wenjing’s death…”
He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them, they were filled with remorse and grief.
The room fell silent again.
Behind the brocade screen, Jiafu held her breath, her heart racing, hardly able to believe her ears.
…
In the second year of Tianxi, the capital was struck by a great flood, followed by an epidemic. Though the newly enthroned Tianxi Emperor ordered the Imperial Medical Bureau to combat the epidemic with all their might, hundreds still died from the disease daily throughout the capital. Even within the imperial palace, despite its high walls, they could not escape; people successively fell ill, eventually spreading to the inner palace. The young Empress also unfortunately contracted the epidemic. With several palace residents already having succumbed to the disease, the Emperor, under his ministers’ counsel, decided to leave the palace and relocate to the Western Gardens hundreds of li away until the epidemic passed. To prevent further spread within the palace, officials suggested sending Empress Pei Wenjing to the imperial Ci’en Temple to recover.
Pei Wenjing was not only exceptionally beautiful but also naturally intelligent and extraordinarily talented, possessing a photographic memory. The Tianxi Emperor was deeply in love with her and initially couldn’t bear to leave her alone in her gravely ill state. However, as Emperor, bearing the weight of responsibility for the nation and its people, and faced with the ministers’ persistent advice, he painfully decided to send her to the temple.
Pei Wenjing’s condition grew increasingly serious. Imperial Physician Mei, who had accompanied her to Ci’en Temple, was at a loss. When the Tianxi Emperor heard the news, he became extremely anxious and attempted to visit her several times, but was each time dissuaded by his ministers.
It was during this time that Xiao Lie secretly risked leaving Yunnan, traveling day and night to reach the capital undetected. He then disguised himself as a guard, infiltrated Ci’en Temple, and brought native Yunnan medicines to Imperial Physician Mei.
Perhaps because Pei Wenjing’s time had not yet come, or for some other reason, over the following period, her condition gradually improved. Xiao Lie remained secretly at the temple for those few months, not leaving until several months later when Pei Wenjing’s illness finally showed improvement. Only then did he quietly depart from the capital and return to Yunnan.
“The Late Emperor’s position was too exalted to risk approaching her. When I went to visit her during her illness, I saw that even the palace maids who had entered the temple to attend to her were all trembling with fear, avoiding her whenever possible, terrified of contracting the disease. Only you, upon learning of her grave illness, were willing to risk danger by secretly leaving Yunnan to bring medicine for her. I am grateful for the sentiment you showed toward Wenjing.”
Tears gradually welled up in the Old Pei Dowager’s eyes.
“But I know my daughter. Wenjing was dignified and composed from a young age. As Empress at that time, how could she not understand the gravity of the situation? Even if you had traveled far and risked danger for her, and even if she still harbored some childhood affection for you, I do not believe that my daughter would have been so reckless as to do such a thing! Your Majesty, Wenjing’s life was saved by you at that time, but indeed, it was also later taken by you!”
“Wenjing is gone, and no matter how beastly I am, I would not dare to dishonor her spirit. Dowager Lady, your reproach is justified. Indeed, it was I who lost control at that moment and forced myself upon her. However, I had been extremely cautious, and I never imagined that after I left, she would become pregnant. I was the one who harmed her.”
Xiao Lie’s eyes reddened as he looked at the elderly woman on the bed. His form slowly lowered until finally, he knelt before her, both knees firmly on the ground.
“By the time I learned from Imperial Physician Mei, it was already years later. By then, You’an had already become the Duke’s son, and there was nothing I could do…”
Jiafu stared at the Emperor kneeling before the Old Pei Dowager, now understanding everything, yet finding it incredible, overwhelmed with shock.
The Old Pei Dowager, however, seemed lost in her own emotions, as if not seeing him kneeling there. After a long silence, she spoke again: “Your Majesty, when Wenjing first discovered she was with child, she even attempted to take harsh abortive medicine, but the child refused to be lost. In the end, she could not bear to kill him and continued to stay at the temple under the pretext of recuperating. She gave birth to him, and just two days after delivery, Wenjing died from hemorrhage. The child was premature, only seven or eight months along. At that time, I thought that even if the child could be raised, he would not live long. Unable to bear the thought of him suffering hardship as an outcast, I brought him back to the residence and raised him under the name of the eldest branch of the family…”
“Your Majesty, you should know that from the day I decided to bring him home to raise, I never intended for you to learn of his connection to you. I originally thought to let this child live well for a few years, and even if he eventually passed away, I would have fulfilled Wenjing’s trust. But I never imagined that heaven’s will is far beyond human calculation. You’an grew to adulthood and at sixteen, believing himself to be my son’s illegitimate child, despised his status and willingly left the capital in disgrace. When he was gravely injured, you saved him again. That’s when I knew you must have discovered his identity. From that time on, I have often been worried…”
Perhaps due to intense emotions, the Old Madam suddenly began to cough, her face turning deathly pale.
Xiao Lie hurriedly rose from the ground, went forward to support her, and rubbed her back.
The Old Pei Dowager gradually calmed her breathing and waved her hand: “Your Majesty, you have now ascended to the throne and become the ruler of the realm. But for You’an, this might not be fortunate. Know that to love him means to keep him at a distance as if you had no such son—this would be your protection of him. But you have not done so! Over these years, I have watched with my own eyes as you have grown close to You’an. I presume Your Majesty never intended to let You’an know of his parentage. But have you ever considered, what if one day his identity becomes known to others? Where would you place him then? How would You’an cope? And what would those around Your Majesty think and do?”
The room once again fell into silence.
After a moment, Xiao Lie raised his head and said through gritted teeth, one word at a time: “He is the son born to the one I loved most dearly, and I will never allow anyone to harm him in the slightest. The Dowager Lady may rest assured of this.”