“Your Highness?” Eunuch Qin’s sharp eyes caught sight of her, and he called out quickly.
The imperial carriage came to an abrupt halt, and Yuwen Jie lifted the curtain and reached a hand out toward her. “Get in.”
His face showed little expression, but his eyes were full of anxiety. Hua Chun had no time to dawdle and simply climbed into the carriage with him, riding back to Huiming Hall together.
The Emperor didn’t even take the time to ask why she’d been there, leading her straight into the inner hall. Palace attendants knelt in rows, waves of wailing rising and falling. The Emperor pulled Yuejian over and asked, “What happened?”
Yuejian glanced at Hua Chun, whose face had turned stony, her eyes full of resistance.
So she could only say, “The Empress Dowager was fine earlier, but… this servant doesn’t know what was said between her and Consort De. Right after Consort De left, the Empress Dowager…”
Her eyes reddened despite herself as she spoke.
The Emperor stood frozen for a moment, then turned to glance at Hua Chun.
Hua Chun straightened her back. “Aunt Yuejian was in the inner hall the whole time just now. Whatever this concubine said, she heard it all clearly.”
“Your Highness must be joking,” Yuejian said, lowering her head. “Wasn’t this servant dismissed by you earlier?”
Was she just going to make things up out of thin air? Hua Chun felt a flash of anger and was about to explain herself, but the Emperor raised a hand, stopping her from speaking.
The Empress Dowager’s body wasn’t even cold yet — this wasn’t the time to pursue the matter. Though he had some faint sense of Hua Chun’s hostility toward the Empress Dowager, and of the grudge over Wan Shi, the truth of the matter would still need to be investigated carefully.
The mourning bell tolled again and again. The Emperor lifted his robes and knelt before the Empress Dowager’s bier, bowing his head to the ground three times with great reverence, then rose and gave the order: “Send the Empress Dowager off on her final journey.”
“Yes.” Eunuch Qin acknowledged, and attendants came in on their knees behind him, lifting the green bamboo bier and carrying the Empress Dowager’s remains out.
In an instant, the palace was draped in white, and along every palace path knelt attendants wailing and weeping. Though few of the tears were genuine, the performative wailing was loud all the same.
Hua Chun felt a headache coming on, because she too was expected to cry — according to custom here, wailing at a funeral was a sign of filial devotion, while not crying marked one as unfilial.
But she genuinely couldn’t muster any tears. To be honest, she was rather glad the Empress Dowager was gone — no one would stand in the Emperor’s way anymore, and no one would help Prince Xi anymore either. The Emperor’s throne had only truly become secure from the moment the Empress Dowager passed.
Not laughing was already showing the Emperor plenty of consideration, since the Empress Dowager hadn’t truly been good to him either. So she simply knelt beside the Emperor with a stony expression, calmly listening to the wailing all around.
Yuwen Jie spared a moment to glance at her, paused slightly, but said nothing. Only after the formal rites were completed did the Emperor turn to Hua Chun and say, “Go back and rest. I’ll handle the rest.”
Hua Chun blinked. “Shouldn’t this concubine stay and help arrange the mourning hall?”
“I’ll leave that to others,” Yuwen Jie said. “You look exhausted.”
With that, he gently squeezed her hand, then walked off toward the group of consorts standing on the other side.
Hua Chun stood rooted in place, watching his retreating back, and asked Qing Niao, “Is he angry with me?”
Qing Niao shook her head gently, helping her walk out. “This matter really doesn’t reflect well on us, no matter how you look at it. Try to stay calm, mistress. Once His Majesty has time, you can explain everything to him properly.”
Earlier, because of Wan Shi, Hua Chun’s grudge against the Empress Dowager had made her attitude toward the woman quite poor, and the Emperor had seen it all. Now that the Empress Dowager had staked her life on this final gambit, and Hua Chun had refused to yield, it was inevitable that she would come out at a disadvantage.
Even if the Emperor believed her, knowing she wouldn’t have directly harmed the Empress Dowager, if only for the sake of their relationship, the facts as they stood were plain, and Yuejian’s vague account would inevitably leave a knot in his heart.
Wan Shi and Hua Chun had shared a deep bond — but wasn’t the Empress Dowager the Emperor’s birth mother, all the same?
Qing Niao sighed, only able to say that the Empress Dowager truly had been ruthless. This final move, however it played out, ensured she came out ahead, because the living could never win against the dead.
Hua Chun felt stifled with frustration. “They say love is supposed to mean unconditional trust — what is this, then?”
“Mistress means the love in dramas, I think,” Qing Niao said, pressing her lips together. “Love in the real world has too many uncertain factors — people’s hearts hold more than just love alone, so it could never be as pure as what’s performed on screen.”
All that talk of giving up an empire for a beauty and retiring together in seclusion, of trusting no one in this world but her, of the Empress Dowager’s opinion mattering nothing because his heart held only her — it was all as beautiful and hollow as a mirage. Reality was made of the mundane stuff of daily life, and countless tangled emotional entanglements besides. The Emperor was a filial son who valued the Empress Dowager, and now her death had implicated Hua Chun — there was no way he could immediately place his full, undivided trust in Hua Chun while setting the Empress Dowager’s memory aside entirely.
“Alright, I suppose I was expecting too much.” Shrugging, Hua Chun said, “I thought once I found a good man, we could love each other forever, stay loyal and trusting for a lifetime.”
“Feelings are something you have to tend to,” Qing Niao said. “Without careful tending, even the best beginning won’t necessarily lead to a good ending. Mistress, you shouldn’t be too hard on His Majesty either.”
Her anger cooling by half, Hua Chun nodded, deciding to go back and calm herself properly.
With the Empress Dowager’s passing, Prince Xi naturally entered the palace as well, and upon learning that the last person the Empress Dowager had seen before her death was Consort De, he immediately demanded that the Emperor summon Consort De for questioning.
“What is it you wish to question?” the Emperor said flatly. “The Empress Dowager left no final words.”
“Has Your Majesty forsaken even your own birth mother for the sake of some woman?” Yuwen Xi said angrily. “Consort De had bad blood with the Empress Dowager and provoked her to death right before our eyes, and you would still shield her?”
“Do not speak recklessly without proof.” The Emperor’s brow furrowed. “The Empress Dowager’s death should have nothing to do with Consort De.”
“Nothing to do with her?” Prince Xi gave a cold laugh, glancing toward Yuejian, who stood nearby. “Aunt Yuejian was the person closest to the Empress Dowager, the one she trusted most. Why doesn’t Your Majesty hear what she has to say?”
The Emperor turned. Yuejian lowered her eyes and said, “This servant was outside at the time and truly doesn’t know what happened. It’s only that the imperial physician had said the Empress Dowager could hold on for another two or three months — this servant doesn’t know how it happened so suddenly…”
His eyes darkening slightly, Yuwen Jie cut her off. “Since you don’t know, don’t go making baseless guesses. The Empress Dowager died of illness, with no wounds on her body whatsoever. Now that she has passed, she deserves to rest in peace in the underworld.”
“Rest in peace?” Yuwen Xi sneered. “Refusing to punish the culprit — are you hoping to deny the Empress Dowager peace even in the afterlife? To think, after all her hardship in bearing you, Your Majesty, this is how she’s repaid.”
“You’ve said quite enough.” The Emperor said, “Keep vigil for three days, then return to White Horse Temple.”
With that, he rose and walked straight out of Zichen Hall.
Yuejian let out a soft, quiet sigh.
“Great Liang is finished.” Yuwen Xi said coldly. “A woman who brings ruin wherever she goes — this matter needs to be brought before the court for judgment. With the Emperor shielding her, that vixen will get away scot-free!”